Study of Aesthetic Components of Smile in North Indian Males

Abstract

Smile is an important physical factor for reflection of inner emotions and well being of person. People with an aesthetic smile are judged socially attractive. It would be useful to represent some desirable characteristics of the smile, which help to achieve desirable results in surgical and aesthetic oral rehabilitation. To analyze the various aesthetic components of smile, assessing the teeth displayed during smile, relationship between curve formed by incisal line of anterior maxillary teeth and the curve of lower lip, the touch of this incisal line on lower lip, the alignment of facial midline with the arch midline and compared the data with the previous studies. The study comprises of 200 North Indian males age group 18-40 years. Prior informed written consent for this study was obtained from the subjects. The exclusion and inclusion criteria for the subjects were predefined. Photographs were taken both in rest position as well as in Smile position using digital camera with high resolution. Results show that during smile the position of upper lip was average in 49% of males, alignment of upper incisal edge to lower lip was convex in 47%, tooth lower lip was non touching in 60%, no. of teeth displayed during smile was 8-10 in 68%, midline from philtrum passing through the centre of central incisors in 76% and bilateral negative space was not visible in 92% males. So, it is concluded that smile is aesthetic in North Indian males.