Evaluation of the perception of smile esthetics, in frontal view, with mandibular laterognatism, through the eye-tracking technique

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the perception of esthetics and the attractiveness of the smile, in frontal view, with mandibular asymmetry, through the eye-tracking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: OGAMA software and The Eye Tribe Tracker hardware were used to obtain eye tracking in certain areas of interest on the face. To simulate asymmetry, Photoshop® image editing software was used to create a vertical reference line to the midline of the face and make it symmetrical with control of the angulation relative to another horizontal reference line passing through the vertices. Then, the lower third of the face added asymmetries or deviations, starting from zero, with increments of 2 by 2 degrees up to 6 degrees. The study included 60 laypeople, 30 males and 30 females, without any knowledge about the study, showing good vision, and not having used drugs with the possibility of influencing cognitive or motor skills. RESULTS: From the heat map in cases of mandibular asymmetry, it is possible to visualize that for both sexes the evaluators evaluated with a certain degree of similarity mainly when the deviations presented with 6 degrees. The trajectory of the male and female gaze in cases with asymmetry shows that in cases with a magnitude of 6 degrees, the raters traced mainly in the region of the mouth with little transition in the eye region and mainly in the areas of interest considered as “other.” In the images presented with a magnitude of up to 4 degrees, they were traced in the general image. CONCLUSIONS: The perception of laypeople from mandibular asymmetry to the right in females presented a higher perception when compared to males with mandible asymmetry to the left.

The visual perception of aligned and crowded maxillary lateral incisors when smiling via eye tracking

“…These differences between genders were interesting findings since most studies on visual perception in dentistry have not compared male and female faces and smiles. 5,7,10 Previous studies have reported that in men, the smile was responsible for 49% and 69% of the perception of the attractiveness of aligned teeth by men and women, respectively. 11 Our findings contradict these results since the change in smile esthetics did not have such an impact on the female face compared to the male face.…”

“…In dentistry, researchers in visual perception have become more interested in using laypeople as study participants 5 , 7 , 11 because laypeople represent the view of patients, whose opinions are very important to clinicians developing a treatment plan in any specialty within dentistry.…”

“…This choice was based on previous eye-tracking studies on facial and smile analysis. 5 , 7 , 12 The literature has shown different display times of 2, 5, and 10 seconds for facial images. 8 , 10 , 13 There is no consensus regarding whether a longer display time would change the pattern of visual attention and eye movements.…”

“…It is possible to quantify the direction of a person's gaze, location, and duration. 5,6 Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effect of aligned and crowded maxillary incisors in a male and female smile. The null hypothesis was that there is no difference in laypeople's visual perception regardless of tooth alignment.…”

Role of Dentofacial Harmony among Young and Old Adult Females in Smile Perception of Dental Specialists and Laypeople: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Perception of the smile attractiveness of an individual, though distinct, is nurtured by social and demographic factors. [ 3 ] Thought to be primarily subjective in nature, perception is shown to be dictated by an objective assessment of attractiveness, faintly masked by certain personal preferences. [ 4 ] Also, patients and laypeople (LP) were found to differ with specialists in judging smile attractiveness.…”