Effect of Buccal Corridors Width on Smile Quality and Esthetics

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the perception of buccal corridor width on smile esthetics by Orthodontic residents, General dentists and Laypersons. METHODOLOGY: A smile photograph was taken of an adult female. The image was modified to obtain five different buccal corridor widths and were assessed by different evaluators grouped into general dentist, orthodontic resident and laypersons who rated the attractiveness of each smile by means of a visual analog scale (VAS). Sample size was 97 participants to rate the picture. Non-probability purposive sampling was done The data was analyzed and mean and SD were calculated for the scores of rating. ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test was applied to compare the different ratings of buccal corridors in three groups. The data of this cross sectional study was collected from general population belonging to different communities, general dentists and orthodontic residents of different dental colleges of Karachi, Pakistan from August 2019 to March 2020. RESULTS: There were 97 participants who responded to the images. Highest scores were obtained for Image 1 having buccal corridor width ratio of 16% followed by image no. 3 having buccal corridor width ratio of 10% and lowest scores were obtained for Image no. 6 having least buccal corridor widths ratio that is 34% followed by image no 5 having 26% buccal corridor widths. Among the groups of participants, the highest scores were given by laypersons for all images. Significant differences were observed between evaluation of groups of Orthodontic resident and layperson in most images. CONCLUSION: There was a remarkable influence of buccal corridor width on smile esthetics, with the 16% ratio group being rated as the most attractive by all three groups. KEYWORDS: Buccal corridors, Smile, esthetics, Attractiveness