Evaluation of aesthetic perception of the smile by lay people and dental undergraduate students

Laís Guedes Alcoforado de Carvalho, Gregório Márcio de Figueirêdo Rodrigues, Rosângela Marque Duarte, Robinsom Viégas Montenegro, Ana Karina Maciel de Andrade

Objective: Assess the aesthetic perception of dental undergraduate students and lay people. Methods: The sample consisted of 50 lay people and 50 undergraduate students. Data were collected by means of forms with questions and images, then they were tabulated and subjected to descriptive statistics. Results: For lay people, teeth alignment, color and shape were the major complaints. Regarding deviation, 28 (56%) considered as ideal a smile without midline deviation. A smile with coincident curvature was considered the most aesthetic for 43 (86%) respondents. Smile with no diastema was preferred by 47 (94%) lay people. As for the undergraduate students, teeth alignment, color and shape were the major complaints. A total of 34 (68%) considered a smile without midline deviation to be the most pleasant. The ideal smile line was that with coincident curvature (90%). The presence of diastema was not considered as aesthetic by any of the undergraduate students. Conclusions: The kind of smile influences personal relationships both for lay people and undergraduate students. For the latter, it is of greater importance. The most attractive smiles for both groups were those without midline deviation, with curvature coinciding with the lower lip and without diastema.

Keywords: Smile. Shape perception. Dental esthetics.

How to cite: Carvalho LGA, Rodrigues GMF, Duarte RM, Montenegro RV, Andrade AKM. Evaluation of aesthetic perception of the smile by lay people and dental undergraduate students. J Clin Dent Res. 2016 Jul-Sep;13(3):68-76. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14436/2447-911x.13.3.068-076.oar

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