Purpose: To assess the correlation between self-perceived dental appearance and dental malocclusion among 18- to 20-year-old college students in Virajpet, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: A stratified random sample consisting of 280 18- to 20-year-old college students in Virajpet were recruited for the study. A pretested Oral Aesthetic Subjective Impact Scale (OASIS) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were used to assess the subjects' perception of dental aesthetics. Malocclusion was clinically assessed using the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI). The data were tabulated and analysed using SPSS version 16. The Spearman rankorder correlation coefficient was employed to determine the correlation between self-perceived dental appearance and dental malocclusion. Results: Of the 280 students, 41.8% were females and 58.2% were males. The mean OASIS score was 23.93 (± 3.72), the VAS score was 69.61 (± 15.78) and DAI 24.80 (± 6.29). Conclusion: There was a negative correlation between perception of personal dental appearance and the DAI scores in this group. Keywords: DAI, malocclusion, normative need, OASIS, perceived need, VAS