MERVE ATAĞ NURVER KARSLI
Aydın Dental Journal - 2024;10(1):9-21
Objectives: To evaluate the impact of potential tooth movement following orthodontic relapse on the aesthetic perception of patients undergoing orthodontic treatment. Materials and Methods: Frontal and lateral smiling photographs of one female and one male volunteer who had previously received orthodontic treatment and hade a regular profile with class I occlusion and class I skeletal pattern were evaluated. Variables included in the evaluation made by 200 laypeople who had undergone orthodontic treatment using photographs of male and female smiles: median diastema, overbite change, central tooth extrusion, labiolingual inclination of incisors and labiolingual translation of lateral teeth. Evaluators rated the overall attractiveness and acceptability of each photo using a scale of 0 to 10 (0: least attractive; 10: most attractive). Results: There were statistical differences in aesthetic ratings between female and male evaluators. Median diastema and central tooth extrusion of 0.5 mm or larger affected female and male model attractiveness scores. The acceptable range for overbite, maxillary incisor inclination, and labiolingual translation of the maxillary lateral tooth varied between the female and the male models. Conclusions: Female evaluators were more critical in aesthetic evaluation. 0.5-mm median diastema and central tooth extrusion adversely affected smile aesthetics. Although there were differences between male and female models, raters tolerated limited overbite (0 mm) less than increased overbite. Moreover, the lingual inclination of the upper incisors was more acceptable than labial movement. Perception of labiolingual translation of the upper lateral tooth varied depending on the perspective and model being evaluated.
