Analysis of esthetic smiles by using computer vision techniques.

Properly aligned teeth and a beautiful smile are the twin goals of orthodontic treatment. Unfortunately, a change in the smile arc is sometimes an unintended consequence of proper alignment. We used 3-dimensional dental models and visualization techniques, including curve-fitting and image-processing algorithms, to analyze smile arcs with respect to different parameters. The results show that smile consonance depends greatly on the conversational distance and the angle of elevation between the viewer and the smile.