Facial profile esthetics change of class II malocclusion patients treated with the Herbst appliance as perceived by orthodontists and laypersons

Abstract

Introduction/objective: The recognition of differences in individual assessment of facial attractiveness could be valuable assistance in planning the orthodontic treatment. The aim of this study was to compare facial profile attractiveness changes of patients treated with the Herbst appliance perceived by orthodontists and laypersons. Methods: The patient sample comprised 33 young Caucasian still-growing patients, aged 14–18 years, with skeletal class II malocclusion treated with the Herbst and multibracket appliances. Facial profile photographs before and after the treatment were shown to 54 orthodontists and 50 laypersons. In the esthetics oriented poll, the evaluators rated the change in facial appearance. Results: The attractiveness scores differed between the two rater groups (p lt 0.001), with orthodontists being more generous, whereas there was no significant difference between female and male evaluators in both groups (p > 0.05). However, scores differed significantly in grading female and male patients (p lt 0.001), so that female patients got higher scores; younger evaluators graded more critically between different age groups of the evaluators (p lt 0.001), as well as between the patients with different initial severity of malocclusion (p lt 0.001). Conclusion: The difference in attractiveness scores differed between two groups, with laypersons being more critical than orthodontists. Higher scores were given to female patients by both groups, as well as by the evaluators in the older age group.

Uvod/Cilj: Prepoznavanje razlika u individualnoj proce- ni facijalne atraktivnosti može biti od velike pomoći u planiranju ortodontske terapije. Cilj rada je bio da se uporedi promena atraktivnosti profila lica bolesnika tretiranih Herbstovim aparatom od strane ortodonata i laika. Metode: Uzorak se sastojao se od 33 ispitanika uzrasta 14–18 godina, koji su imali malokluziju II klase i lečeni Herbstovim aparatom u kombinaciji sa gornjim i donjim fiksnim aparatom. Njihove profilne fotografije pre i posle terapije pregledali su 54 ortodonta i 50 laika. Oni su ocenjivali, u vidu ankete, promenu facijalne atraktivnosti. Rezultati: Ocene facijalne privlačnosti razlikovale su se između dve grupe (p lt 0,001), tako što su ortodonti dava- li veće ocene, dok nije bilo statistički značajne razlike između polova u obe grupe (p > 0,05). Međutim, rezultati su se značajno razlikovali pri ocenjivanju muških i ženskih bolesnika (p lt 0,001), te su bolesnice dobile veće ocene. Takođe, rezultati su se značajno razlikovali između različitih starosnih grupa ocenjivača (p lt 0,001), tako da je mlađa grupa davala niže ocene, te bila kritičnija u pro- ceni. Razlika je bila značajna i kod ocenjivanja bolesnika sa različitim stepenom izraženosti anomalije (p lt 0,001). Zaključak: Razlika u ocenama facijalne privlačnosti postojala je između dve grupe, te su laici bili kritičniji u ocenjivanju u odnosu na ortodonte. Veće ocene dobile su bolesnice od strane obe grupe, a starija uzrasna grupa ocenjivala je većim ocenama sve bolesnike.