Esthetic preferences of European American, Hispanic American, Japanese, and African judges for soft-tissue profiles

Nomura, Mayumi
Motegi, Etsuko
Hatch, John P.
Gakunga, Peter T.
Ng'ang'a, Peter M.
Rugh, John D.
Yamaguchi, Hideharu

^aAssistant professor, Department of Orthodontics, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan
^bAssociate professor, Department of Orthodontics, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan
^cProfessor, Departments of Psychiatry and Orthodontics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Tex
^dAssistant professor, Department of Orthodontics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Tex.
^eAssistant professor, Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
^fChair and professor, Department of Orthodontics, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Tex.
^gFormer chair and professor, Department of Orthodontics, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan

^*Reprint requests to: Mayumi Nomura, Department of Orthodontics, Tokyo Dental College, 1-2-2 Masago, Mihama-ku, Chiba, Japan, 261-8502; e-mai, [email protected]

A part of this report was presented at the 84th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research in Brisbane, Australia, June 28, 2006.

The authors report no commercial, proprietary, or financial interest in the products or companies described in this article.

Submitted, October 2007; revised and accepted, February 2008.

American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics 135(4):p S87-S95, April 2009.

Introduction

Our objectives were to determine whether observer and patient sex and race or ethnicity determine esthetic preferences for lip positions.

Methods

Four independent panels each consisting of 30 lay judges viewed pretreatment silhouette profiles of 10 European American, 10 Japanese, and 10 African American Angle Class I and Class II orthodontic patients. The panels included European Americans, Hispanic Americans, Japanese, and Africans. Profiles were traced from lateral cephalograms and manipulated so that the lip profile lay on the Ricketts' E-line or at various distances from the E-line from −8 to +4 mm in 2-mm increments. The judges selected the profile that they considered the most attractive and then classified the remaining 6 profiles as either acceptable or unacceptable.

Results

The mean preferred lip positions (mean ± SD) were −2.58 ± 1.92 mm for European American, −3.28 ± 2.26 mm for Hispanic American, −3.45 ± 1.92 mm for Japanese, and −2.13 ± 1.95 mm for African judges. The African judges preferred more protrusive profiles compared with the Hispanic American (P <0.01) and Japanese (P <0.001) judges. Patient race or ethnicity and sex also contributed significantly to the judgments of profile esthetics (P <0.001).

Conclusions

Judge race or ethnicity and patient race or ethnicity and sex significantly influence laypersons' standards for lip profile esthetics.