Influence of certain tooth characteristics on the esthetic evaluation of a smile

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of certain dental characteristics on the perception of smile esthetics by undergraduate dentistry students. METHODS: Ten digital photographs of a woman's smile were modified using Adobe Photoshop software. The following changes were performed: stain removal; i...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Andréa Fonseca Jardim da Motta, José Nelson Mucha, Margareth Maria Gomes de Souza
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Dental Press Editora 2012-06-01
Series:Dental Press Journal of Orthodontics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2176-94512012000300008
Description
Summary:OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of certain dental characteristics on the perception of smile esthetics by undergraduate dentistry students. METHODS: Ten digital photographs of a woman's smile were modified using Adobe Photoshop software. The following changes were performed: stain removal; incisal edge straightening; gingival leveling; closure of black triangles. A group of 60 undergraduate dental students evaluated the original photograph and the altered images using a visual analog scale to evaluate smile esthetics. Intraexaminer agreement was checked for 30 examiners using the Student t test; for casual error, the Dahlberg formula was used. Data were described as means and standard deviations, and reported in tables. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between the first and second scores assigned by examiners (p>0.05) in any of the comparisons made. The results of systematic error for the method indicated that the measures obtained were reliable. ANOVA was used to test equality of means, and the level of significance was set at 5%. Equality of variances was evaluated using Levene's test, and results revealed that variances were equal. Multiple comparisons using the Tukey's test revealed statistical significance at a 5%level for the presence of black triangular space. No significant values were found for other comparisons. CONCLUSIONS: Some dental characteristics were perceived by undergraduate students, and the black triangular space was classified as the most unfavorable characteristic.
ISSN:2176-9451
2177-6709