Comparison of perceptions of laypersons, dentists and orthodontists to altered smile aesthetics

Abstract

Introduction: Smile plays an important role in facial expression. Esthetic perception varies from person to person, therefore what is beautiful for orthodontist might not be attractive for the patient. So the responsibility on the orthodontist is to create a smile which seems beautiful to the patient and is acceptable to the society and to the laws of esthetics as well.

Material and Methods:  This study was conducted in Islamic International Dental Hospital Islamabad in the department of orthodontics from April 2015 to June 2015. It was a cross sectional descriptive study. A colored photograph of a female with well aligned smile was selected and was modified using ABOBE 7.0. Two variables for evaluation were considered, gingival exposure and midline shift. Two sets of pictures included 9 images in total were shown to the 3 panel groups; orthodontists (n=52), dentists (n=60) and lay persons (n=60). The modified images were scored using a 5 point visual analogue scale (VAS) with 0 indicating worst aesthetics and 4 indicating excellent aesthetics.

Results:   Three of the groups rated the picture with `no midline shift` as the more attractive smile. Smile with 1mm gingival display was considered attractive by all of 3 groups. It was noted that orthodontists were more critical in judging as compared to dentists and dentists are more discriminating as compared to layperson as significant difference was perceived (p>0.05) in the degree of ratings.

Conclusions:   Orthodontists, dentists as well as layperson prefer a smile with no midline shift and gingival exposure of 1-2mm. there was no gender difference in the perception of the selected two variables. Orthodontists, dentists and layperson shared more similarities than differences when evaluating smile esthetics.