Original article
Impact of metal and ceramic fixed orthodontic appliances on judgments of beauty and other face-related attributes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajodo.2013.10.016Get rights and content

Introduction

Physical attributes, behavior, and personal ornaments exert a direct influence on how a person's beauty and personality are judged. The aim of this study was to investigate how people who wear a fixed orthodontic appliance see themselves and are seen by others in social settings.

Methods

A total of 60 adults evaluated their own smiling faces in 3 different scenarios: without a fixed orthodontic appliance, wearing a metal fixed orthodontic appliance, and wearing an esthetic fixed orthodontic appliance. Furthermore, 15 adult raters randomly assessed the same faces in standardized front-view facial photographs. Both the subjects and the raters answered a questionnaire in which they evaluated criteria on a numbered scale ranging from 0 to 10. The models judged their own beauty, and the raters assigned scores to beauty, age, intelligence, ridiculousness, extroversion, and success.

Results

The self-evaluations showed decreased beauty scores (P <0.0001) when a fixed orthodontic appliance, especially a metal one, was being worn. There was no statistically significant difference between the 3 situations in the 6 criteria analyzed.

Conclusions

A fixed orthodontic appliance did not affect how personal attributes are assessed. However, fixed orthodontic appliances apparently changed the subjects' self-perceptions when they looked in the mirror.

Section snippets

Material and methods

This cross-sectional study included 60 volunteers who served as subjects. The group comprised 21 men and 39 women, ages 18 to 47 years, whose maxillary dentition was complete, with both dental arches either aligned or having mild crowding. All subjects signed a form of free and informed consent, and the study was approved by a research ethics committee, under registration number CONEP-CAAE: 0034.0.368.000-11.

Brackets were positioned but not bonded to ensure that the smiles with metal and

Results

Descriptive statistics and the ANOVA results are shown in Table I. In the self-evaluations of beauty, there were differences between the 3 smiling faces. The models saw themselves as more beautiful when not wearing a fixed orthodontic appliance, followed by when wearing an esthetic fixed orthodontic appliance, and finally a metal fixed orthodontic appliance (P <0.0001). For the scores assigned by the raters on the Web site, no statistically significant difference was found for any criterion:

Discussion

Many adults are prejudiced against wearing orthodontic appliances. This fact most likely reduces the numbers of people who would benefit from orthodontic treatment worldwide.

This study showed that interpersonal esthetic judgments are not affected simply by the presence or absence of an orthodontic appliance. This finding clashed head-on with the self-perceptions of those wearing a fixed orthodontic appliance: they considered themselves less beautiful when wearing a fixed orthodontic appliance,

Conclusions

According to the data analyzed in this study, it is reasonable to conclude that wearing an orthodontic appliance has no bearing on interpersonal esthetic judgments in light of the criteria evaluated. However, people who wear braces see their self-perceptions change and thus assign themselves lower beauty scores, which can affect their self-esteem and, in turn, their social relationships.

References (15)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest, and none were reported.

View full text
Copyright © 2014 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.