title: Patients' self-perception of dentofacial attractiveness before and after exposure to facial photographs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether exposure to pretreatment photographs of themselves influenced patients' self-perception of dentofacial attractiveness and willingness to undergo treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 100 subjects of white ancestry aged 18 years or older (Study Group) and 100 sex- and age-matched controls (Control Group) were selected. Photographs of the frontal view of the face and the profile view of the face, both at rest and while smiling, were taken of each participant. Only Study Group subjects were given a printed copy of their own images to be examined at home between the initial observation (T0) and a set date an average of 30 days later (T1). Each of the 200 subjects in the study completed a questionnaire at T0 and T1 exploring happiness regarding their smiles and their facial profiles, as well as willingness to undergo treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At T1 in the Study Group, 50% of subjects responded with a lower opinion of their facial profiles than at T0; 11% and 45% were willing to undergo more comprehensive procedures to change the appearance of their smiles and profiles, respectively. No statistically significant change was seen in questionnaire answers between T0 and T1 for the Control Group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Laypeople generally are not aware of their facial profiles. Pretreatment photograph exposure can increase profile self-awareness, an important factor in reducing the discrepancy between orthodontists' and patients' visual emphasis on dentofacial esthetics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. giulio.alessandri@unibo.it
authors.forename: Giulio Alessandri
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Bonetti
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alberti
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sartini
authors.forename: Serena Incerti
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Parenti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D023861:Photography, Dental; D012649:Self Concept; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult