Influence of different width/height ratio of maxillary anterior teeth in the attractiveness of gingival smiles

objective: to evaluate, among laypersons and orthodontists, the influence of the width/height proportions of upper anterior teeth on the smile attractiveness, in photographs of close up smile from three adult caucasian women, with 4 mm of gingival exposure. methods: the photographs of close up smiles were digitally manipulated and six images were created from each smile with teeth's width/height proportions in 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85% and 90%. then, all these images were manipulated again and a black mask covering all teeth from the lower arch was created. the figures were then assessed by 60 evaluators, 30 orthodontists and 30 laypersons, who assigned, in a visual analog scale, the level of attractiveness of each image. results: the obtained results, in general, showed that the proportions of 75%, 80% and 85% received the highest scores while the proportion of 65% received the lowest scores, for both groups of examiners (p < 0.05). when orthodontists and laypersons were compared, it was not found, in most situations, a significant statistical difference between their assessments (p > 0.05). yet, the comparison between scores assigned to smiles with and without inferior teeth showed that, for all situations, there was no statistically significant difference between them (p > 0.05). conclusion: for patients with gingival smile, the width/height proportions of upper anterior teeth considered more esthetic were the ones of 75%,80% and 85% for laypersons and orthodontists, and the presence or absence of inferior teeth did not affect the attractiveness level of the assessed smiles.