Comparison Of Facial Aesthetic Assessment Of Orthodontic Treatment Between Orthodontists And Patients

Objective:This study was designed to compare the facial aesthetic assessment of orthodontic treatment between orthodontists and orthodontic patients, and between men and women, via Q-sort method subjective evaluation of the facial aesthetics.Methods:Q-sort method was used to evaluate the facial aesthetic assessment of20experienced orthodontists (7men,13women) and25patients (13men and12women), through rating clinical photographs of96post-orthodontic patients (48men and48women); Kappa agreement and McNemar test were used to analyze similarities and differences between orthodontists and patients, and between men and women.Results:The survey on male facial appearance indicates more similarities shared by orthodontists and orthodontic patients(Kappa=0.61;P<0.05), and higher agreement between men and women raters(Kappa=0.57;P<0.001); while the survey of female facial appearance, shows more differences between orthodontists and orthodontic patients(Kappa=0.40;P<0.001), with a lower conformity between men and women raters(Kappa=0.39;P<0.005). Men tend to be more satisfied with the facial appearance than women, but very slightly. In the survey of predominant facial aesthetic factors,9options (eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, face, front, smile, side profile, and others) were given, rates of each being chosen are:92.78%for eyes,90.12%for nose,50.66%for mouth,53.84%for teeth,51.44%for face,55.69%for front,56.11%for smile,60.37%for side profile,10.24%for others (hair style, forehead, skin, etc.). Orthodontist raters gave most votes to the side profile-91.33%, and patient raters gave their most votes to eyes-91.51%.Conclusions:1. Orthodontists and orthodontic patients have higher conformity in male facial appearance assessment than in female facial appearance assessment.2. Men and women have higher conformity in male facial aesthetic assessment than in female facial appearance assessment.3. Overall, eyes and nose are considered to be most dominant factors of facial appearance, by orthodontists, patients, men, and women. Orthodontists think significantly more highly of the side profile as a predominant factor than patients do.