Perception of occlusal plane that is nonparallel to interpupillary and commissural lines but with the maxillary dental midline ideally positioned

Aesthetic Preference in the Transverse Orientation of the Occlusal Plane in Rehabilitation: Perspective of Laypeople and Dentists

“…In general, sex was not a factor that affected the perception of attractiveness of each of the groups, which is similarly to the results obtained in the study by Jiménez-Castellanos et al (for laypeople), in the study by Silva et al in [1,12,19,33]. The only exception regarding the participant's sex occurred in the case of lay women, who significantly preferred the OP parallel to the IL than with a mean between the IL and the CL equivalent to 1.5 degrees, while lay men had no significant results that could declare the existence of some preference.…”

“…In cases where there was a difference between the groups in the perception of attractiveness, it was shown that dentists were more capable of opting for the symmetrical image than laypeople, which makes it possible to assume that dentists have more precision in the observation of facial planes and assume them with a higher level of attractiveness, while laypeople tend to be more tolerant. The finding that professionals are able to perceive smaller differences in the OP is consistent with what Revilla-León et al affirms, which further justifies this result by the fact that dentists are more used to seeing and treating small differences in facial appearance [1]. This finding is repeated in studies that analyzed the OP and other characteristics of the smile [27,28].…”

“…Whenever the rehabilitation of a patient is at stake, an effective integration of the dental prosthesis into the face is a determining factor for achieving a successful final result [1]. To achieve this goal, one of the key factors in determining the prognosis of totally edentulous patients is the establishment of an occlusion compatible with the movements produced by the stomatognathic system [2].…”

“…When faced with these asymmetries, the clinician must choose the reference line with which to guide the transversal OP in the planned oral rehabilitation [19]. However, the relationship between the position of the labial commissures and the OP has not been sufficiently investigated and clarified [1,20].…”

“…Currently, the scientific literature disagrees as to which horizontal reference to use in framing the OP in the facial context, and there is also a need to determine within what limits are visually accepted discrepancies in the transverse plane. Thus, the need for further studies to help clarify the dentists' decision-making process during the rehabilitative diagnosis process is urged [1,12,13,20].…”