Denture aesthetics: an evaluation of laymen's preferences.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the lay public perceives anterior teeth selected by William's typal matching method as aesthetically pleasing. The theory was tested by laymen responding to questions about photographs of three edentulous male and three edentulous female patients. These patients were selected as representatives of square, tapering, and ovoid facial forms. The photographs were portrait views of the patients wearing different dentures displaying square, tapering, and ovoid teeth. Substantiation for typal match was found in the square female, square male, and the ovoid female patients. Responses to the photographs demonstrated a preference for square tooth forms over ovoid, and then tapering. Overall, ovoid teeth were preferred for females and square teeth were preferred for males.