Dentofacial Esthetics

Laypeople’s preferences for an attractive smile

The Journal of the Ameican Dental Association had an article this month that reviewed all the literature related to how the public perceives an attractive smile. As you can imagine, there is no one “look” that all people agree is attractive. There are however some common threads that were discovered. Most people prefer unworn teeth, smaller teeth for females, larger teeth for males, and front teeth that are not offset at an angle, even when that angle is as little as 10 degrees. It was intereresting that the general shapes of teeth were not important when observing female models, but there was a preference for square-round front teeth in men.

Many times when alignment of the teeth are an issue, we prefer Invisalign orthodontics for correction. If the tooth shape or wear are an issue, veneers or crowns my be the choice. A combination of these treatments has been utilized in our practice for a conservative yet beautiful end result. Creating a look and shape is an individual preference and we are open to having that discussion with you.