The influence of children's dentofacial appearance on their social attractiveness as judged by peers and lay adults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the social attractiveness of a child would be influenced by his or her dentofacial appearance. Black and white photographs of an attractive boy and girl and an unattractive boy and girl were obtained and modified so that, for each face, five different photographic versions were available. In each version, the child's face was standardized except that a different dentofacial arrangement was demonstrated. These were normal incisors, prominent incisors, a missing lateral incisor, severely crowded incisors, and unilateral cleft lip. Each photograph was viewed by a different group of forty-two children and forty-two adults, equally divided as to sex. Their impressions of the depicted child's social attractiveness were recorded on visual analogue scales. The experimental procedure was such that the effect and interaction of different levels of facial attractiveness, different dentofacial arrangements, sex of the photographed child, and sex of the judge could be analyzed. The hypothesis that children with a normal dental appearance would be judged to be better looking, more desirable as friends, more intelligent, and less likely to behave aggressively was upheld.