Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2024; 12(23): 5354-5365
Published online Aug 16, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i23.5354
Perception of dental appearance and aesthetic analysis among patients, laypersons and dentists
Alhanoof Aldegheishem, Hadeel Mohammed Alfayadh, Munirah AlDossary, Shahad Asaad, Elzahraa Eldwakhly, Nour AL Huda AL Refaei, Dana Alsenan, Mai Soliman
Alhanoof Aldegheishem, Elzahraa Eldwakhly, Nour AL Huda AL Refaei, Dana Alsenan, Mai Soliman, Department of Clinical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Hadeel Mohammed Alfayadh, Department of Oral Medicine and Pathology, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 11176, Saudi Arabia
Munirah AlDossary, Department of Prosthodontics, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 11176, Saudi Arabia
Shahad Asaad, Department of Pediatric, Ministry of Health, Riyadh 11176, Saudi Arabia
Author contributions: Aldegheishem A, Alfayadh HM, AlDossary M, Asaad S, Eldwakhly E, AL Refaei NAH, AlSenan D, Soliman M conceptualized the study; Alfayadh HM, AL Refaei NAH, AlSenan D performed data collation; Aldegheishem A contributed funding acquisition and project management; Alfayadh HM, Asaad S, Eldwakhly E conducted the survey; Aldegheishem A, AlDossary M, AlSenan D, Soliman M designed the research methodology; Aldegheishem A, Alfayadh HM, AlDossary M, Asaad S, Eldwakhly E, AlSenan D wrote the original manuscript; AL Refaei NAH, Soliman M wrote and edited the manuscript the review and editing; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University Researchers, No. PNURSP2024R115.
Institutional review board statement: The ethical approvals were obtained from the Deanship of Scientific Research, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University under IRB study number 17-0183.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding author.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mai Soliman, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, King Khaled Airport Road, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia. msmustafa@pnu.edu.sa
Received: February 25, 2024
Revised: May 5, 2024
Accepted: June 14, 2024
Published online: August 16, 2024
Processing time: 131 Days and 9.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Current concepts of beauty are increasingly subjective, influenced by the viewpoints of others. The aim of the study was to evaluate divergences in the perception of dental appearance and smile esthetics among patients, laypersons and dental practitioners. The study goals were to evaluate the influence of age, sex, education and dental specialty on the participants’ judgment and to identify the values of different esthetic criteria. Patients sample included 50 patients who responded to a dental appearance questionnaire (DAQ). Two frontal photographs were taken, one during a smile and one with retracted lips. Laypersons and dentists were asked to evaluate both photographs using a Linear Scale from (0-10), where 0 represent (absolutely unaesthetic) and 10 represent (absolutely aesthetic). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test analysis were measured for each group. Most patients in the sample expressed satisfaction with most aspects of their smiles and dental appearance. Among laypersons (including 488 participants), 47 pictures “with lips” out of 50 had higher mean aesthetic scores compared to pictures “without lips”. Among the dentist sample, 90 dentists’ perception towards the esthetic smile and dental appearance for photos “with lips” and “without lips” were the same for 23 out of 50 patients. Perception of smile aesthetics differed between patients, laypersons and dentists. Several factors can contribute to shape the perception of smile aesthetic.

AIM

To compare the perception of dental aesthetic among patients, laypersons, and professional dentists, to evaluate the impact of age, sex, educational background, and income on the judgments made by laypersons, to assess the variations in experience, specialty, age, and sex on professional dentists’ judgment, and to evaluate the role of lips, skin shade and tooth shade in different participants’ judgments.

METHODS

Patients sample included 50 patients who responded to DAQ. Two frontal photographs were taken: one during a smile and one with retracted lips. Laypersons and dentists were asked to evaluate both photographs using a Linear Scale from (0-10), where 0 represent (absolutely unaesthetic) and 10 represent (absolutely aesthetic). One-way ANOVA and t-test analysis were measured for each group.

RESULTS

Most patients in the sample expressed satisfaction with most aspects of their smiles and dental appearance. Among laypersons (including 488 participants), 47 pictures “with lips” out of 50 had higher mean aesthetic scores compared to pictures “without lips”. Whereas among the dentist sample, 90 dentists’ perception towards the esthetic smile and dental appearance for photos “with lips” and “without lips” were the same for 23 out of 50 patients. Perception of smile aesthetics differed between patients, laypersons and dentists.

CONCLUSION

Several factors can contribute to shape the perception of smile aesthetic.

Keywords: Aesthetic perception; Laypersons; Dental appearance; Dentists; Smile analysis; Dental aesthetic

Core Tip: An aesthetically pleasing smile is not only dependent on elements such as tooth position, size, shape, and color, but also on the amount of gingiva exposed and lip positioning. All of these facial features are essential to achieve a harmonious form, emphasizing the importance of physical appearance and facial attractiveness. However, the concept of attractiveness varies between individuals influenced by uncontrollable factors such as cultural differences, as well as their personal and social background. Several studies have shown significant differences in aesthetic perception concerning various factors, including the presence of a black triangle, inflamed gingiva, diastema, malocclusion, midline shift, facial asymmetry, buccal corridor and gingival display. Many studies have reported significant differences on the aesthetic perception among laypersons and dentists. Although there is an existing body of research, a deeper comprehension of how dental appearances are perceived is required. Additionally, there are limited scientific data regarding the relationship between variations in skin color and tooth shade values in terms of perceived attractiveness. There was no widely recognized scientific relationship between skin color and smile perception. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare perception of dental aesthetic among patients, laypersons, and professional dentists.