Perceção do impacto estético na avaliação de alterações na macro e microestética do sorriso por médicos dentistas, estudantes de medicina dentária e leigos

Abstract

Introduction: The smile is very important in psychosocial interaction of individuals, and the aesthetics of the smile is, increasingly, the main reason for seeking orthodontic treatment. Aim: Compare the perceptions of dentists, dental students and laypeople to altered smile features. Methods: Twenty-two digital smile photographs with altered features were used. Altered features included the following: smile arc, buccal corridor, maxillary dental midline shift, crown length of the lateral incisors, midline diastema, gingival level of the lateral incisors, and gingival display. The photographs were presented to a sample of 30 dentists, 30 dental students and 30 laypeople. Each participant rated each picture with a Visual Analogue Scale, which ranged from 0 (not esthetic) to 100 (very esthetic). Results: Dentists were more critical than dental students and laypeople when evaluating buccal corridor of 10% and maxillary dental midline shift of 2mm (p<0,05). There significant difference between dental students and laypeople towards alterations in the maxillary dental midline shift of 6mm and reduction in the gingival level of the lateral incisors of 1mm (p<0,05). Dentists and dental students were more critical than laypeople when evaluating gingival display of 2mm and concave smile arc and there significant difference between dentists and laypeople in gingival display of 4mm (p<0,05). The reduction in crown length of the lateral incisors of 1mm and the increased in the gingival level of 1mm were the variables that had the highest mean. There significant gender difference seen in midline diastema of 1mm and in the reduction crown length of the lateral incisor of 1mm (p<0,05). Conclusions: As the deviations increase, the smile aesthetics decreases. The laypeople were the most tolerant of deviations, with higher means and, in general, dentists were more critical that dental students, especially in smaller deviations. Key Words: smile, aesthetics, Orthodontics, Visual Analogue

Date of Award	12 Jul 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Armindo Alves (Supervisor) & Alexandra Reis (Co-Supervisor)