Assessment of the most preferred facial profile amongst patients and Orthodontists

A key aspect of orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning is soft tissue evaluation, which includes the assessment of soft tissue-profile esthetics. Inherent facial features as well as extrinsic factors such as hair style, complexion, and makeup have a strong influence on aesthetics, biasing the judgment of profile esthetics. Therefore, investigators have used profile line drawings and profile silhouettes to eliminate the effects of other facial features while studying profile. The aim of the study was to determine the agreement regarding the most preferred facial profile among patients and orthodontists. This study was carried out at the outpatient department at Islamic International Dental Hospital from August 2011 to February 2012. A balanced facial profile with class I cephalometric norms was modified with the help of a computer software Viewbox[trade mark sign] 4.0 Software [DHAL Orthodontic Software, Athens, Greece] to generate 7 profiles with variation in maxilla and mandible. Silhouettes of these 7 profiles were ranked by patients and orthodontists [n=80each]. A scale of 1-7 was used with 1 being least attractive and 7 being most attractive. The normal profile [Profile C] was ranked the most attractive and the profile with retrusive mandible the least attractive. Significant difference was found in the agreement of ranking of the most preferred facial profile by the patients and orthodontist [p-value0.001]. Normal [balanced] facial profile was ranked to be the most preferred facial profile by both patients and orthodontists

Comparison of difference in perception between Orthodontists and laypersons in terms of variations in buccal corridor space using visual analogue scale

Orthodontics has undergone a paradigm shift with a focus of treatment on facial aesthetics. Buccal corridor show has always remained a controversial aspect of smile aesthetics. As orthodontists often expand the arches as a mean of gaining space, it is of interest to know how the amount of tooth display affects smile attractiveness. The objectives of this study were to compare the difference in perception of orthodontists and laypersons to altered smile aesthetics, specifically with regards to buccal corridor show. This was a cross sectional study carried out in the OPD of Islamic International Dental Hospital, Islamabad from September 2011 to March 2012. A frontal smiling photograph was obtained from a non-orthodontic female patient with a pleasing smile. Using computer software Adobe Photoshop 7.0 [San Jose, Calif], the smile was digitally altered to create different variations of the normal buccal corridor space. For the main survey the photographs were projected as a power point presentation to orthodontists and laypersons [n =46]. The raters were asked to score the overall appearance of the photographs using visual analogue scale from 1 to 10. There was no significant difference in the perception between orthodontists and laypersons for variations in buccal corridor [p < 0.05]. Both groups preferred smiles with minimal buccal corridors. Laypersons and orthodontists preferred smiles with absent or minimal buccal corridors. There is no gender or age group difference in buccal corridors [BC] attractiveness