Laypersons’ perception of smile esthetics from different backgrounds

Abstract

Background: Smile esthetics can be subjective. This study aims to assess the effect of culture/
geographic location on judging smile esthetics by comparing the perception of smile characteristics
between American laypersons (Western culture) and Iranians (Eastern).
Materials and Methods: One hundred residents from each country were recruited for this
analytical cross‑sectional study. A frontal picture of a posed smile with standard norms which are
mentioned in the Contemporary Orthodontics textbook by William R. Proffit was selected. Adobe
Photoshop 7 was used to alter midline diastema, gingival display (GD), maxillary midline‑to‑face
discrepancy, buccal corridor (BC), and smile arc. Images were given to groups to determine the most
attractive and acceptable smile. Data were analyzed by Chi‑square, Mann–Whitney, and Spearman
correlation coefficient in SPSS‑22 (α =0.05).
Results: Americans were less critical in judging diastema (P < 0.001), GD (P = 0.013), and
BC (P = 0.004) for smile attractiveness than Iranians. No difference was between the two groups
in choosing the acceptability threshold and determining the most attractive smile except for
BC (P = 0.002).
Conclusion: Overall, Americans were more tolerant of variations in smile characteristics than
Iranians. Both groups agreed on most smiles. Therefore, it seems that it is reasonable to use similar
standards for smile characteristics while considering the small differences.
Key Words: Computer‑assisted image processing, dental esthetic, diastemas

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Fereshteh Najarzadegan: Pubmed,Google Scholar