The perception of facial aesthetics in a young Spanish population.

Improved facial aesthetics is one aim of orthodontic treatment. This study was designed to determine if the faces considered more beautiful in a young population exhibit the same parameters used by orthodontists to assess successful results. A panel of 34 laypeople (30 females and 4 males) evaluated a set containing one frontal, one frontal during smiling, and one profile photograph of 89 students (77 females and 12 males) on a 5-point attractiveness scale, in relation to a set of reference photographs. For each photographic set, the mean and final scores were calculated. Once the sample was established, 11 subjects (9 females and 2 males) with the highest final facial aesthetic score were selected and cephalometric analysis was performed. All cephalometric measurements were within the norm for the total sample. When the sample was divided by gender, Wilcoxon's W non-parametric test showed significant differences between the male and female photographs; while females tended to a Class II malocclusion, with the mandible slightly retrusive to the maxilla, males tended to a Class III and showed a straighter profile with a prominent chin; the face height ratio was higher in males. There were no significant differences between genders for lower lip to E plane. The findings show that the faces considered more attractive fulfilled the cephalometric and facial norms.