Black spaces between maxillary incisors: what is the aesthetic limit?

• Main Authors: Matheus Melo Pithon, Rogério Lacerda-Santos, Jéssica Rocha Barreto, Jéssica Oliveira Rocha, Raissa Virgínea Galvão Brasil, Larissa Batista Weberling, Jorge Victor Barbosa Paixão, Raildo da Silva Coqueiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Uberlândia 2015-09-01
• Series: Bioscience Journal
• Subjects: dental esthetics; orthodontics; perception
• Online Access: http://www.seer.ufu.br/index.php/biosciencejournal/article/view/29092

The focus of this article was evaluates the degree of perception of laypersons of different age groups with respect to smile esthetics in cases involving black spaces between maxillary incisors. Changes were made in a photograph of a smiling female patient, simulating various configurations of black spaces between maxillary incisors. For this purpose an image manipulation Photoshop CS3 was used. For evaluation black spaces of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mm in size were created. After digital manipulation, the photographs were printed on photographic paper, attached to a questionnaire, and distributed among laypersons in the age groups of 15-19; 35-44, and 65-74. To evaluate the degree of esthetics, a scale of attractiveness was used, in which a score of 0 would represent ''not very attractive'', 5 ''attractive'' and 10 ''very attractive''. Fisher's exact test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test was used (P<0.05). Results showed that the photographs without black space and with black space of 2.5 mm were scored as the most and least attractive, respectively, by all the age groups. The degree of perception of black spaces between maxillary incisors gradually diminished as the age of the groups increased (P<0.05). Black spaces have a negative repercussion on smile esthetics, perceived more easily by younger persons. The larger the black space, less attractive the smile.