Role of Dentofacial Harmony among Young and Old Adult Females in Smile Perception of Dental Specialists and Laypeople: A Cross-Sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to determine whether balance and harmony of the face, when seen as a whole, alter the smile perception as compared to a lone standing smile in female subjects of two age groups and to identify parameters of dental composition and dentofacial harmony associated with the smile perception of dental specialists (DS) and laypeople (LP). SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-nine DS and 29 LP scored the smile attractiveness of 84 full-face images (FFIs) and corresponding smile images (SIs) of young adults (YA: 20–29 years) and old adults (OA: 50–59 years), using the Visual Analogue Scale. Smile analysis software (Planmeca Romexis®Smile-Design) was used to measure 10 parameters of dental composition and dentofacial harmony in FFI. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Independent t-test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A significant difference was not seen between the smile attractiveness scores of FFI and SI in both raters and age groups. Significant differences were observed between DS and LP in the YA group. The OA group was rated significantly higher than the YA group. The correlation between smile attractiveness scores and each of the nine dentofacial parameters was not significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Framing of images did not significantly alter smile perception. FFI received higher scores than SI, and raters were more critical of the YA group. Professional training of raters and an interplay of smile and facial attractiveness of the female subjects contributed to the smile perception of raters. No parameters of dental composition or dentofacial harmony significantly associated with smile attractiveness were identified.