Objective:

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of educational status on the perception of smile esthetics considering social and spontaneous smile patterns.

Methods:

The present study was conducted on 110 subjects with differing educational status. Of 110 subjects with a mean age of 39.4 years, 30 were primary school graduates, 30 were high school graduates, and 50 had a university or higher educational level. Four different black and white natural social and spontaneous smiling images, captured from a video recording of a 25-year-old female, were prepared displaying the full-face and oral area. A 10-cm visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the smile esthetics.

Results:

There were significant differences in the social and spontaneous smiles in a subjective assessment of the smile esthetics in full-face and oral views between participants having a different educational status (p>0.05). Compared with the other groups, the participants in the primary school graduate group gave higher esthetic scores in all the image groups. In terms of esthetic perception, this group was followed by high school graduates and participants with a university or higher level of education. In the four image groups, there was a significant difference between the primary school graduates and participants with a university or higher level of education (p<0.05).

Conclusion:

Educational status is a sociodemographic factor that can affect the perception of smile esthetics. The esthetic scores both in social and spontaneous smile decrease with increasing education level, and the most remarkable difference exists between primary school graduates and those with university or higher level of education.

Keywords: Educational status, social smile, spontaneous smile