Dental esthetics - dentist's evaluation of layman's perception

To evaluate the relationship of the perioral soft tissues and teeth to attractive smiles.

Twenty frontal photographs of female celebrities were selected from the internet and were rated by a panel consisting of laymen, a Prosthodontist, a Community dentist and an Orthodontist into the following categories: (1) poor, (2) fair, (3) good, (4) very good and (5) excellent. These scores were averaged and the smiles were analysed for buccal corridor, smile line ratio, smile symmetry and smile index.

There was a significant negative correlation between average rating and buccal corridor (r =– 0.481, p = 0.032 < 0.05) and smile index (r = – 0.624, p = 0.003 < 0.05) respectively. A significant positive correlation was seen between average ratings and smile symmetry (r = 0.461, p = 0.041 < 0.05).No significant correlation was found between average ratings and smile line ratio(r = – 0.163, p =0.492 > 0.05).

A symmetric smile with a narrow buccal corridor and a low smile index increases the esthetic appearance of a smile. However, smile line ratio does not affect the attractiveness of a smile.