Vertical Anterior Tooth Display and Smile Attractiveness

ABSTRACT

Introduction Our study is done to compare and verify if different levels of maxillary central incisal edges and gingival display influence the perception of smile among orthodontists, dentists, orthodontic patients, and laypersons. Methods Photographs of the smiles of 1 male and 1 female showing the gingival contours of the incisors and the canines were digitally altered, creating steps from 0 to 2.0 mm in 0.5-mm increments, with and without gingival exposure. The 20 pictures were shown in random order to 160 evaluators divided into 4 groups who were asked to provide attractiveness scores on visual analog scales. Results Both the steps (P\0.001) and the gingival exposure (P\0.05) had statistically significant influences on the evaluators in all groups. There was also a statistically significant difference (P\0.001) between the evaluations of orthodontists with the other groups. Conclusion Vertical relationship of incisor borders with the 1.0-mm step was given the highest grading. There were significant differences in the evaluation of orthodontists when compared with the other 3 groups, and no significant difference was detected between the other 3 groups. The gingival display holds an important value in the esthetic perception of the smiles evaluated. There were significant differences between the evaluations of the smiles of the man and the woman.