The Impact of Dental Aesthetics on Good looks, Integrity, and Intelligence

Dental aesthetics affect views of a man’s integrity, intelligence, and social skills more than a woman’s, but their effect on facial attractiveness is neutral or negative for men and women in need of treatment. The findings are from a study published in the October issue of American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics.

The authors designed the study for these purposes:

1. Assess the role of dental attractiveness in background facial attractiveness,
2. Evaluate how facial and dental attractiveness influenced raters' opinions of the integrity, social attractiveness, and intellectual attractiveness of the models.

The authors used 36 photos to measure how different levels of quantified background facial and dental attractiveness of models influenced raters’ opinions of the models’ social attractiveness.

Study Findings

1. The impact of dental attractiveness on facial attractiveness, integrity, and social and intellectual attractiveness was dependent on dental attractiveness level, background facial attractiveness, and model sex.
2. The effect of dental aesthetics on facial attractiveness was neutral or negative for both males and females when there was a need for treatment for all levels of facial attractiveness.
3. For both male and female models, lower dental aesthetics had a greater effect on more attractive faces.
4. Judgments about integrity and social and intellectual attractiveness were strongly affected by dental aesthetics, and these effects were more dramatic and consistent for male faces.

Original Article

Melissa A. Papio, Henry W. Fields, F. Michael Beck, Allen R. Firestone, Stephen F. Rosenstiel. The effect of dental and background facial attractiveness on facial attractiveness and perceived integrity and social and intellectual qualities. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Volume 156, Issue 4, 2019, Pages 464-474.e1