A measuring system for facial aesthetics in Caucasian adolescents: reproducibility and validity

A new measuring system to judge facial aesthetics in young Caucasians is presented. The system uses sets of three photographs (one frontal, one three-quarter smiling, and one lateral) as a stimulus. Scores are performed on a visual analogue scale (VAS) with separate sets of reference photographs for girls and boys. The choice of the reference photographs was based on a panel evaluation of facial aesthetics of 40 boys and 40 girls from the archive of the orthodontic department. Reproducibility of the new measuring system was tested on a series of photographic sets (one frontal, one three-quarter smiling, and one lateral view) of 64 patients, using a panel of 78 adult laymen and 89 professionals. The panel members assessed these sets of photographs on a VAS, in relation to the reference sets. The system was shown to be reproducible. Although the intra-observer reproducibility was low, the reliability coefficient was excellent (Cronbach's alpha > or = 0.98). Validity was tested by comparing the scores on the new scales with those of the three-quarter smiling photographic views on an earlier published scale. The correlation between the ratings on the new measuring system and the earlier published scale was 0.82 for laymen and 0.77 for professionals. The new system is simple and flexible in its use, and reproducible and valid for assessing facial aesthetics in young Caucasians. The system can be used in further investigations on the evaluation of facial aesthetics.