Awareness of Dental Esthetic Standards Among Dental Students and Professionals

PURPOSE: This study investigated the level of esthetic awareness of dental students and professionals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Photographs depicting facial and smile features that deviate from universally accepted esthetic standards were presented in a questionnaire. Participants were asked to rate the images and to identify the main discrepant criteria. Eight hundred questionnaires were distributed to dental students, and clinicians. The data were analyzed using chi-square tests, Student’s t-test and one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc tests for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Students had 45.2% correct answers compared to 51.6% for clinicians. Among students, the highest awareness was found among 5th year students, followed by interns, 4th year and 3rd year students. The difference in the percentage of correct answers between clinicians and students overall was significantly higher for some criteria than for others, such as gingival esthetics, lip features, smile zone (incisal plane), facial features, and buccal corridor. Among clinicians, specialists responded correctly more often than did general practitioners in most of the investigated aspects. CONCLUSION: The ability of different group samples to diagnose discrepancies of smile esthetics was refined and enhanced with increased clinical experience and knowledge.