Aesthetic perception of interproximal wear as an adjunct to orthodontic treatment in different age groups

The purpose was to assess the aesthetic perception of laypersons belonging to different age groups on interproximal wear in the maxillary and mandibular incisors as an adjunct to orthodontic treatment. Photographs of smiles were taken from patients exhibiting normal occlusion and then manipulated to simulate wear in the mesiodistal width of maxillary and mandibular incisors with 25 different images being generated. These images were shown to laypersons aged 15 to 19, 35 to 44, and 65 to 74 years old, so that they could assess smile aesthetics. The participants used a visual analogue scale to give scores to the images. Peer comparisons were performed using the Mann-Whitney test. Statistical analyses were performed with a 95% confidence level. The vast majority of the participants failed to notice differences between the images presented, with no distinction between sexes or age. The average score given to the different photographs ranged from 6.48 to 6.81. The individuals of the oldest age group (65 to 74 years old) gave higher scores than the individuals of the younger age groups. Thus, the interproximal wear in the maxillary and mandibular incisors as an adjunct to orthodontic treatment did not affect smile attractiveness. Keywords: aesthetic perception, interproximal wear, smile attractiveness, orthodontic treatment