Assessment of the "golden proportion" in agreeable smiles

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the "golden proportion" in individuals presenting agreeable smiles.

Method and materials: Two hundred sixty university students aged 18 to 30 years of age (130 subjects of each gender) with maxillary incisors, canines, and premolars presenting anatomic integrity were evaluated. Agreeable smiles were considered to be those displaying at least second premolars; revealing no gingival recession in the smile area; having interdental papillae that filled all interdental spaces and were not hyperplastic; showing less than 3 mm of the maxillary gingiva; displaying the line of the lower lip parallel to the incisal line of the maxillary teeth and also to an imaginary line linking the contact points of these teeth; and, finally, presenting symmetry upon examination. Twenty-one individuals of this sample who presented this kind of smile (11 female and 10 male subjects) had their maxillary incisors, canines, and premolars of the same hemiarch measured in the cervicoincisal and mesiodistal directions using a periodontal probe, a digital Boley gauge, and digitalized analysis. Data were submitted to statistical analysis for comparison of adjacent teeth considering 1.618 (golden proportion) as a reference, with a statistical significance of P < .05.

Results: Of the agreeable smiles evaluated, 7.1% exhibited the golden proportion.

Conclusion: The golden proportion was not often found in adjacent teeth shown in smiles in the sample studied.