American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
Original articleImpact of metal and ceramic fixed orthodontic appliances on judgments of beauty and other face-related attributes
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.
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All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest, and none were reported.