title: Esthetic impact of gingival plastic surgery from the dentistry students' perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the this study was to evaluate the perception of smile esthetics and alterations in cases of gingival plastic surgery for correction of a gummy smile, by means of alterations in smile photograph among dentistry degree students.
  
  
  METHODS
  A frontal smile photograph of a 40-year-old woman having normal occlusion was used with diverse compositions of gingival exposure level and crown length of maxillary teeth. The eight photographs were evaluated by 216 dentistry students in five class groups (1(st), 2(nd), 3(rd), 4(th) and 5(th) classes).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed that almost all of the class' students perceived differences between images, additionally, the highest percentage of students that answered "no difference" was 12% at 1(st) class' students. 1(st) and 2(nd) class' students most liked photograph which is 2.5 mm gingival display and 3(rd) class students liked two different photographs which are 2.5 mm gingival display and 2 mm gingival display whereas 4(th) class students preferred two different photographs which are 1.5 mm gingival display and 1 mm gingival display, 5(th) class students preferred photograph which is 1.5 mm gingival display as the most.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Esthetic perception of smile improve as a student passes to higher study classes in terms of gingival exposure. The harmonious display of gingiva exhibits an important effect in the smile esthetics rather than reduced or excessive display.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Kirikkale University, Kirikkale, Turkiye.
authors.forename: Erdem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ayyildiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Kirikkale University, Kirikkale, Turkiye.
authors.forename: Enes
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Kirikkale University, Kirikkale, Turkiye.
authors.forename: Hakan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Keklik
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Kirikkale University, Kirikkale, Turkiye.
authors.forename: Zulfikar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Demirtag
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Zirve University, Gaziantep, Turkiye.
authors.forename: Ahmet Arif
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Celebi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Southwest Bahia State University-UESB, Jequie, Bahia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Matheus Melo
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Pithon
keywords: Clinical crown of maxillary anterior teeth; esthetics; perception; periodontal surgery; photography