Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jan;44(1):28-35.
doi: 10.4041/kjod.2014.44.1.28. Epub 2014 Jan 17.

The effect of western adaptation of Hispanic-Americans on their assessment of Korean facial profiles

Leo Toureno  1 , Yoon-Ah Kook  2 , Mohamed Bayome  2 , Jae Hyun Park  3
Affiliations

The effect of western adaptation of Hispanic-Americans on their assessment of Korean facial profiles

Leo Toureno et al. Korean J Orthod. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To determine Korean facial profile preferences based on lip position as assessed by Hispanic-Americans of varying western adaptation levels and to determine whether the age and sex of the rater had any influence.

Methods: For this study, 132 Hispanic-Americans and 68 Caucasians of varying age, sex and western adaptation levels volunteered to rate their preference of Korean male and female facial silhouettes having lips ranging from retruding to protruding. The Hispanic-Americans were also asked to complete a Bidimensional Acculturation Scale questionnaire to determine their western adaptation status: low-acculturated Hispanics (LAH; lesser western-adapted Hispanic participants) or high-acculturated Hispanics (HAH; higher western-adapted Hispanic participants).

Results: The LAHs preferred significantly more retruded lip positions (p < 0.05) while HAHs showed some similarities with Caucasian participants in the results for the Korean male profile, even though HAHs preferred more retruded lip positions for the Korean female profile than Caucasians did (p < 0.05). The age and sex of raters did not influence the preference of facial profiles (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that Hispanic-Americans prefer a flatter Korean lip profile. It would be prudent for orthodontists to offer patients the option of altering lip profile through orthodontic and/or orthognathic surgery treatments.

Keywords: Hispanic-American; Korean facial profile; Orthodontics; Western adaptation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

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

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Series of 13 male and female profiles rated by Hispanic-American and Caucasian laypeople.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Line graph of male and female profile preferences of the 3 ethnic/acculturation (western adaptation) groups. Blue boxes indicate a significant difference of the means at p < 0.05*. HAH, High-acculturated Hispanics (high western adapted); LAH, low-acculturated Hispanics (low western adapted); and C, Caucasians.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Monger R, Yankay J. U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2010 [Internet] US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics; 2011. Apr, [cited 2011 Nov 24]. Available at: www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/lpr_fr_2010.pdf.
    1. Grieco EM, Revelyan EN. Place of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population: 2009 [Internet] U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau; 2010. Feb, [cited 2011 Nov]. Available at: www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-15.pdf.
    1. Sarver DM. The esthetic impact of orthodontics: planning treatment to meet patients' needs. J Am Dent Assoc. 1993;124:99–102. - PubMed
    1. Holdaway RA. A soft-tissue cephalometric analysis and its use in orthodontic treatment planning. Part I. Am J Orthod. 1983;84:1–28. - PubMed
    1. Holdaway RA. A soft-tissue cephalometric analysis and its use in orthodontic treatment planning. Part II. Am J Orthod. 1984;85:279–293. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources