TY - JOUR A1 - Sudhir, K A1 - Mohan, G A1 - Fareed, Nusrath A1 - Shanthi, M T1 - Dental students' perception towards dress code in a private dental institution in Andhra Pradesh: A cross-sectional study Y1 - 2011/7/1 JF - Journal of Education and Ethics in Dentistry JO - J Educ Ethics Dent SP - 68 EP - 72 VL - 1 IS - 2 UR - https://www.jeed.in/article.asp?issn=0974-7761;year=2011;volume=1;issue=2;spage=68;epage=72;aulast=Sudhir DO - 10.4103/0974-7761.103679 N2 - Background: "Fashion is one of the world's oldest fountains of youth," as "with every new garment, one discovers a new self". Human behavior is changing due to changing trends and generation needs, new movements collide with older thoughts and influences from different streams of thought are always brought into contact with established belief changing the balance and centre of gravity of opinion. However, clothing affects several kinds of judgments people make. Aim: To know the attitude of dental students towards the current professional dental dress code and identify perceived appropriate dress code for dental students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among the dental students of a private dental institution in Andhra Pradesh. Dental students from first year to Interns were included in the study. Prior to the start of the study the four most commonly seen dressing patterns among students of the same region were identified and selected. The data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire containing four pairs of photographs with a uniform background portraying models of male and female students in different attires to elicit the subject's response on dress code. Specifically, male and female students were surveyed separately using male model photographs for male respondents and female model photographs for female respondents. Results: Three hundred and twenty-nine subjects, with mean age 21±4, participated and completed the questionnaires; 75.7% of the respondents felt that dental dress code is important. Professional informal dress code was preferred by 38.7% male and 42.6% female respondent as a dress code that portrayed the qualities of professionalism, 54.1% males and 34.9% females felt the need for change in professional dress code. Among the students favoring need for change in dental dress code from formals to others, 85% of the males preferred cool casuals and 79% females preferred causal. Conclusion: The study revealed variation in preference of students and their negative attitude towards professional dress code. ER -