Laypersons' Perceptions of the Esthetics of Visible Anterior Occlusion

Objective: To analyze 6 different types of visible anterior occlusion, exclusive of extraoral facial features, in terms of their esthetic appeal, as perceived by 91 randomly selected adult laypersons with different levels of education in Lima, Peru.Methods: Photographic images of 3 examples of each occlusion type (open bite [OB],deep bite [DB], crossbite [CB], end-to-end bite [EE], crowded bite [CwB] and ideal bite [IB]) were prepared. Evaluators used a visual analogue scale (VAS) to rate their perceptions of the esthetic appeal of each view. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test differences in mean scores among occlusion types and to test the effect of evaluator characteristics on perceived attractiveness.