title: The effects of camera lenses and dental specialties on the perception of smile esthetics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to investigate whether different camera lenses and dental specialties can affect the perception of smile esthetics.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the first phase of this study, 40 female smile photographs (taken from dental students) were evaluated by six orthodontists, three specialists in restorative dentistry, and three prosthodontists to select the most beautiful smiles. The 20 students with the best smile ranks were again photographed in standard conditions, but this time with two different lenses: Regular and then macro lenses. Each referee evaluated the beauty of the smiles on a visual analog scale. The referees were blinded of the type of lenses, and the images were all coded. The data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-tests (alpha = 0.05, alpha = 0.0167).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The lenses led to similar scores of beauty perception (Mann-Whitney P = 0.8). There was no difference between subjective beauty perception of specialties (Kruskal-Wallis P = 0.6). Two-way ANOVA indicated no significant role for lenses (P = 0.1750), specialties (P = 0.7677), or their interaction (P = 0.7852).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The photographs taken by a regular lens and then digitally magnified can be as appealing as close-up photographs taken by a macro lens. Experts in different specialties (orthodontics, prosthodontics, and restorative dentistry) showed similar subjective judgments of smile beauty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Dental Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Hadi
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Sajjadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Dental Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Behnam
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Khosravanifard
authors.affiliation: Department of Private Practice, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mozhgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esmaeilpour
authors.affiliation: Department of Iranian Tissue Bank and Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Dental Anatomy and Morphology, Dental Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rakhshan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Dental Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moazzami
keywords: Beauty; digital photography; macro lens; operative dentistry; orthodontics; prosthodontics; smile