Influence of dental midline deviation with respect to facial flow line on smile esthetics-A cross-sectional study

Document Type

Article

Department

Dental-oral, Maxillo-facial Surgery

Abstract

Background/objective: A contemporary concept states that dental midline deviation towards the direction of facial flow line (FFL) can mask the compromised smile esthetics. This study aimed to identify a range of midline deviations that can be perceived towards or away from the FFL influencing smile esthetics.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a frontal smile photograph of an adult female. The photograph was altered on Adobe Photoshop software into six different photographs by deviating the dental midlines towards and away from the FFL. A constant deviation of chin towards the left side was incorporated in all the photographs. Forty-three laypersons (LP) and dental professionals (DPs) evaluated those photographs. Independent t-test was used to compare the perception of dental midline deviation between LP and DPs. Simple linear regression was run to identify the factors associated with the scoring.
Results: A statistically significant difference was observed for picture two with 4 mm towards FFL in the perception of midline deviation between LP and DPs. LP could not perceive the midline deviations up to 4 mm while DPs were able to perceive deviations above 2 mm. The greater the age the better the scores were and female raters had a greater inclination towards poor scores.
Conclusions: From 2 to 4 mm of midline deviation towards the FFL can be tolerated by LP and DPs

Comments

Volume, issue and pagination are not provided by publisher/author

Publication (Name of Journal)

Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1111/jerd.13298

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