comparison of the perception of smile esthetics among general dentists and specialist

introduction: the effect of education on esthetic perception is still unclear. this study aims to compare the perception of smile esthetics, under various conditions, among general and specialist dentists. materials and methods: a photograph of a woman’s smile was digitally altered using a software image editing program. alterations were made tothe dental midline, anterior gingival display, buccal corridor, golden proportion, and upper lip vermilion border height. the perception of smile in each of the modified images were assessed by orthodontists (n=15), prosthodontists (n=15), maxillofacial surgeons (n=15), esthetic and operative dentists (n=15), and general dentists (n=20), and scored using a visual analog scale (vas). the mean vas scores were calculated for each photograph.results: the orthodontists were less tolerant in their perception of a dental midline deviation, and rated a 1mm shift as less attractive, whereas, the maxillofacial surgeons perceived a smile as less attractive when the midline was deviated by3mm. dentists from all groups perceived smiles with less gingival display and reduced vermilion height as the most attractive. in addition, an average buccal corridor area was preferred by most dentists in all groups. golden proportion in the anterior teeth was perceived as attractive only by the orthodontists. in each image no significant difference was discovered between the scores of different groups of the participants. conclusion: the range of perception and sensitivity about each factor in specialists and general dentists was different but the ideal image was the same.