What’s a pretty smile? Huge question mark! In an attempt to answer this, American researchers carried out a study, published in the journal Plos One. Above all, they wanted to reassure the most worried: there is not only one beautiful smile. “Just because yours is different doesn’t mean it isn’t pretty,” said study co-author Stephen Guy. Guardian.
To identify the “ideal” smile, the scientists used a 3D simulation tool, using which they recreated a smiley face in 27 different ways. For this, they modified the extent of the smile, the dental exposure or even the symmetry. They then asked 802 volunteers aged 18 to 82 to evaluate these smiles according to the following criteria: effectiveness, authenticity or even emotion provided. Those with the highest average were deemed successful.
Not too many teeth
So what does the “winning” smile look like? The results show that broad smiles revealing a lot of teeth are not unanimous, contrary to what one might think. They would even tend to scare some study participants! The latter did indeed give better marks to narrower smiles, exposing little dentition. They also appreciated the slightly asymmetrical smiles, judged to be more authentic.
Read also:
Smile: the key to happiness and good health
Does smiling make you look old?
Dental veneers to beautify the smile
