Influence of anterior tooth alignment on peer perception in 8- to 10-year-old children

The purpose of this research was to investigate whether anterior dental alignment in 8- to 10-year-old children influences the first impressions of their peers, and to verify the validity of the tested method. From colour photographs of two attractive children, one male and one female, Adobe Photoshop 5.0 was used to alter the images and create three versions of each photograph: one with good anterior dental alignment (OK smile), a second with proclination of the upper incisors (P-type smile), and finally one with moderate-to-severe anterior crowding (C-type smile). The six different photographs were shown to 121 subjects with mean age of 9.2 years (65 females and 56 males). Each subject was asked to view one photograph and subsequently respond to a questionnaire, the 'Smile perception questionnaire for children between the ages of 8 and 10' (SPQ 8-10), composed of 13 questions with graded responses. The responses for each photograph were analysed using linear regression analysis to determine the questionnaires validity as a whole and to investigate five area of common interest (honesty, intelligence, personal happiness, pleasantness, and extroversion). The results demonstrated that the questionnaire was reliable both from an internal coherence standpoint and from a test-retest reliability perspective. Data regarding the five areas of interest showed that 8- to 10-year-olds viewed their peers with well-aligned teeth more favourably as far as honesty, personal happiness, and intelligence were concerned. However, there was no statistically significant difference with regard to pleasantness and extroversion in children with harmonious, as opposed to crowded or proclined anterior teeth.