Analysis of soft tissue display during enjoyment smiling: part 1--Caucasians.

Esthetic considerations have become increasingly important in dental therapy. Evaluation of the soft tissue display during enjoyment smiling can provide useful information for esthetic oral rehabilitation. To date, no study has quantified the amount and frequency of soft tissue display in the area of the papilla. Photographic examination of 66 fully dentate patients with a mean age of 28.5 years was performed during enjoyment smiling. Digital processing and measurement of the tooth, gingival, and papillary display revealed that over 90% of subjects displayed papillae in the anterior teeth and first premolars during enjoyment smiling regardless of sex. The frequency of display in descending order consisted of maxillary lateral incisors (96%), central incisors (94%), canines (94%), first premolars (91%), second premolars (85%), and first molars (39%). The mean papillary display was 3.4 mm (range, 0.0 to 10.0 mm). There was no significant difference in the amount of papillary display between the sexes for anterior teeth, premolars, or first molars (P = .97, P = .79, and P = .48, respectively).