| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the esthetic perceptions of orthodontic treatment modalities among American adults.
Methods: 539 adults were surveyed. Survey participants were asked to evaluate photographs of a model’s teeth with 7 different situations: no orthodontic appliances, full mouth metal brackets with blue o-rings, full mouth metal brackets with grey o-rings, full mouth ceramic brackets with clear o-rings, clear aligners with attachments on all maxillary teeth, clear aligners with attachments on all maxillary teeth except the central incisors, and clear aligners with no attachments. Survey respondents were asked to rate the different treatment modalities on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) from 0-100 with “very unattractive” and “very attractive” as anchors. They were also asked to rank the orthodontic treatment modalities in rank-order and select the single appliance they would most prefer to be treated with.
Results: No appliance on the teeth scored the highest median (94), followed by clear aligners with no attachments (80). Next, there were three appliances with median scores showing no statistically significant differences between each other: clear aligners with attachments everywhere (62), clear aligners with attachments everywhere except the U1s (60), and clear braces (59). Metal braces with blue and grey o-rings had the lowest median scores (50, 50).
Conclusion: Clear aligners with no attachments are the most esthetic option among American adults. However, when attachments are added to the clear aligners, clear braces are found to be equally esthetic. Metallic braces are the least esthetic treatment modality. | |
