OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of gingival display in the smile aesthetics. METHODS: Two smile photographs (one smiling frontal view and a close-up view) from four people (a Caucasian man, a Caucasian woman, an Afro-Brazilian man and an Afro-Brazilian woman) were used. All photos were processed in the computer and five images for each original photography with different amounts of gingival display were made: 0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 mm. Images created from the same group were randomly arranged and submitted to 60 subjects for evaluation, who were asked to rate in an analogic visual scale the attractiveness of each image. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Data recorded was submitted to statistical tests and results showed that 0 and 1 mm of gingival display had the greatest scores, 6.6 and 6.2, respectively, and did not show statistical differences between them (p<0.05). Gingival display of 3, 5 and 7 mm had smaller and decreasing scores, 5.0, 3.5 and 2.9, respectively, and the 5 and 7 mm groups did not show statistical difference between them (p<0.05). Furthermore, the use of smiling frontal view or close-up view had no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05).
Dental aesthetics; Gingiva; Orthodontics; Smile
