Cephalometric characteristics of postorthodontic female patients with attractive and unattractive frontal posed smiles

Cephalometric determinants of facial attractiveness: A quadratic correlation study

INTRODUCTION

This research aimed to determine the nonlinear correlation between lateral cephalometric measurements and facial attractiveness, evaluated in the frontal and profile views. A quadratic correlation was studied, in which the vertex of the function indicates the cephalometric value corresponding to the maximum attractiveness.

METHODS

Frontal and profile facial attractiveness of 60 patients with Class I (n = 20), Class II (n = 20), or Class III malocclusion (n = 20) aged 18-35 years without previous orthodontic treatment was evaluated by 14 laypersons (7 men and 7 women) with a visual analog scale. Soft- and hard-tissue measurements were collected on lateral cephalometric radiographs. Pearson and nonlinear quadratic correlations between the attractiveness of the face and cephalometric measurements were calculated. Maximum attractiveness values (MxAt) were determined for the significant cephalometric variables.

RESULTS

Significant quadratic correlations were found between frontal facial attractiveness and the following variables: Ls-SnPog' (r = 0.45; MxAt = 3.1 mm), Li-SnPog' (r = 0.41; MxAt = 3.8 mm), the ANB angle (r = 0.42; MxAt = 0.2°) and MPA (r = 0.51; MxAt = 31.9°). Profile attractiveness correlated nonlinearly with Ls-SnPog' (r = 0.42; MxAt = 3.2 mm), Li-SnPog' (r = 0.41; MxAt = 3.9 mm) and MPA (r = 0.46; MxAt = 32.4°).

CONCLUSIONS

Significant quadratic correlations were found between facial attractiveness and cephalometric measurements, which were stronger than linear correlations. The maximum attractiveness points indicated a tendency for laypeople to consider a more protrusive lower lip and an ANB angle lower than the norm as the most attractive.

Evaluations of the facial attractiveness of young women with severe maxillary anterior crowding by orthodontists and laypeople with and without orthodontic treatment experience in Japan

INTRODUCTION

Maxillary anterior crowding (MxAC) has been considered to be an esthetically favorable characteristic of young women in Japan. It has been hypothesized that laypeople and orthodontists have different esthetic preferences; however, to date, this has not been investigated in detail. Therefore, the present study compared the facial attractiveness of women with MxAC and the interpretation of MxAC among orthodontists and laypeople with and without orthodontic treatment experience in Japan.

METHODS

Thirty-eight orthodontists, 42 laypeople with orthodontics (patients), and 43 laypeople without orthodontics (laypeople) evaluated the attractiveness of resting and smiling frontal images of 12 women with MxAC (MxAC models; mean age, 21.7 ± 2.6 years) and 12 women with normal occlusion (normal models; mean age, 20.1 ± 0.7 years) using a visual analog scale. In addition, they responded to a questionnaire that asked them to select the terms most closely associated with MxAC. All evaluators and models were Japanese.

RESULTS

For all evaluator groups, the facial attractiveness of the MxAC models was significantly lower than that of the normal models for both the resting and smiling images. For MxAC models, orthodontists evaluated resting images more attractive than smiling images, whereas laypeople evaluated smiling images more attractive than resting images. Significantly more patients and laypeople than orthodontists selected "cute" as the term most closely associated with MxAC (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The orthodontists, patients, and laypeople showed a different tendency in their facial attractiveness preferences. Regardless of their orthodontic experience, the laypeople showed more positive interpretations of MxAC than orthodontists. This finding seems to be influenced by Japanese culture, which values irregularity in nature as one form of beauty.