Esthetic impact of gingival plastic surgery from the dentistry students’ perspective

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the this study was to evaluate the perception of smile esthetics and alterations in cases of gingival plastic surgery for correction of a gummy smile, by means of alterations in smile photograph among dentistry degree students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A frontal smile photograph of a 40-year-old woman having normal occlusion was used with diverse compositions of gingival exposure level and crown length of maxillary teeth. The eight photographs were evaluated by 216 dentistry students in five class groups (1(st), 2(nd), 3(rd), 4(th) and 5(th) classes). RESULTS: The results revealed that almost all of the class’ students perceived differences between images, additionally, the highest percentage of students that answered “no difference” was 12% at 1(st) class’ students. 1(st) and 2(nd) class’ students most liked photograph which is 2.5 mm gingival display and 3(rd) class students liked two different photographs which are 2.5 mm gingival display and 2 mm gingival display whereas 4(th) class students preferred two different photographs which are 1.5 mm gingival display and 1 mm gingival display, 5(th) class students preferred photograph which is 1.5 mm gingival display as the most. CONCLUSION: Esthetic perception of smile improve as a student passes to higher study classes in terms of gingival exposure. The harmonious display of gingiva exhibits an important effect in the smile esthetics rather than reduced or excessive display.