The effect of treatment on facial attractiveness

Pretreatment and posttreatment frontal and profile slides of 13 orthodontic camouflage and 13 orthognathic surgery patients were shown to three panels of judges: an orthodontic, an oral surgery, and a "lay" panel of first-semester dental students. Each judge rated the facial attractiveness of the pretreatment and posttreatment views of each patient using a visual analog scale. A mean pretreatment and posttreatment score was then calculated for each treatment group for each judge. Paired t tests were used to compare the treatment groups and time periods. The orthodontic camouflage group was rated as significantly more attractive than the orthognathic surgery patients before treatment. There was no significant change in the facial attractiveness mean score for the orthodontic group, whereas the orthognathic surgery group was rated as showing a significant improvement. However, the orthognathic surgery group was still rated as being significantly less attractive after treatment than the orthodontics-only group.