| Popis: |
Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of altered incisor gingival position among dental specialists, dentists, dental students and laypeople. Materials and methods: Four digital smile photographs with altered gingival margin position of the right maxillary incisor (0, 1, 2 and 3 mm) were presented to a sample of 232 respondents (71.1% female ; 28.9% male): 42 dental specialists, 63 dentists, 33 dental students ( 1st to 3rd year), 38 dental students (4th to 6th year) and 56 laypeople. The questionnaire consisted of four randomly displayed photographs, administered via Google Form, and respondents were asked to rate the images on a scale from 1 to 5, from least attractive to the most attractive. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS v. 22.0 software (SPSS, Chicago, USA). According to Shapiro-Wilk's test, the data were not distributed normally. Kruskal-Wallis test with Mann-Whitney post hoc tests were used to compare esthetic scores among the groups. Results: Median values of esthetic scores decreased in all groups as the gingival asymmetries increased. The median score value of the photograph showing gingival symmetry was rated as 5 and images with 1 mm of altered gingival margin position of right maxillary central incisor were rated as 4. Moreover, 2 mm of gingival asymmetry was rated as 3, while 3 mm of asymmetry score was 2. Esthetic scores evaluated by lay people were significantly higher than compared to those evaluated by specialists. The difference was found for 2 mm of gingival asymmetry (p=0.002). Conclusion: This study showed the importance of the gingival symmetry of the upper maxillary incisors. The greater the asymmetry, the more negative was the perception of the smile scored by all raters in the study. |
