Silhouette profiles in the assessment of facial esthetics: A comparison of cases treated with various orthodontic appliances

Abstract

This study uses comparisons of silhouette profiles to determine the effects of orthodontic treatment on facial esthetics. Forty-eight white patients with Class II, Division 1 malocclusions and mandibular retrognathism were treated, without tooth extraction, with the Fränkel appliance and by the Begg light-wire, the straight-wire edgewise, and the Tweed edgewise methods. One hundred first-year dental students selected the profile which they estimated had the best facial esthetics and then evaluated this preferred profile as “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” As more posttreatment than pretreatment profiles were preferred for each of the four treatment groups, there was no clear trend in preference among the treatment modalities assessed. Percentages of the preferred posttreatment silhouettes selected as “satisfactory” ranged from 46 to 55. The results support the use of the silhouette in the evaluation of profiles. Also, they show the advantage of determining, in surveys of facial esthetics, whether or not preferred profiles or faces are “satisfactory” to the viewers. However, since it is a simplified representation of a profile, the silhouette is a complement to other methods of profile evaluation, not a substitute.