Perceived social attributes of college students with ideal versus non-ideal dental esthetics judged by peers.

Abstract

PERCEIVED SOCIAL ATTRIBUTES OF COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH IDEAL VERSUS NON-IDEAL DENTAL ESTHETICS JUDGED BY PEERS By Dr. David Louis Jones, D.D.S. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012. Major Director: Steven J. Lindauer, D.M.D., M.D.Sc. Professor and Chair, Department of Orthodontics The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of dentofacial appearance on perceived social attributes of college-aged adult males and females as judged by their peers. Specifically, the objective was to determine if ideal smile esthetics positively influenced this age group’s perception of opposite-sex peers based on ratings of the following psychosocial characteristics: attractiveness, desire to spend time with, desire to date, and desire for a long-term relationship. Evaluators were shown digital photographs of subjects with ideal and nonideal smiles and asked to rate those 4 attributes using a visual analogue scale (VAS). The subjects’ photographs with ideal smile esthetics were consistently rated higher on average than the same subjects’ photographs with nonideal smile esthetics. The differences in ratings between ideal and nonideal smile images were significant for all 4 psychosocial judgments (P <.0001). These differences ranged in magnitude depending on the sex and race of the evaluator and subject.