Braces Impact on Smile Aesthetic: Laypeople and Orthodontists Perception

Objective: This study evaluated the influence of orthodontic appliances on smile aesthetic assessed by lay adolescents, lay adults and orthodontists. Methods: It was used a facial photograph of a smiling young woman under the following conditions: with metal orthodontic braces ligated by different rubber colors (green, red and gray), with ceramic bracket braces (transparent elastic) and without brackets, totaling five 15 x 20cm pictures. For the photograph assessment, 16 lay adolescents, 16 lay adults and 16 orthodontists were randomly selected. The photographs were randomly arranged in an album, followed by a visual analog scale (VAS) for the scores registration. Scores in both evaluations of each group (adolescents, adults and orthodontists) were submitted to an error analysis (paired test of WILCOXON) and multiple comparison among groups performed by KRUSKAL – WALLIS at 5% significance. Results: orthodontists, adults and adolescents agreed in their opinions, although the orthodontists gave lower scores in their assessments. Conclusion: It could be observed that ceramic braces were more acceptable concerning the smile aesthetic, whereas the metal braces received the lowest scores. Thus, orthodontists, adults and even adolescents seem to prefer aesthetic solutions during orthodontic treatment.