title: Association Between Confidence in Smiling and Esthetic Characteristics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to analyze which facial, gingival and dental characteristics are associated with confidence in smiling among 75 subjects seeking treatment in a northern Brazilian public dental university.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical examinations and three standardized photographs of each subject were taken by one trained examiner. In addition, a questionnaire was applied to assess confidence in smiling. The subjects were dichotomized into two groups, non-confident (n = 36) and confident (n = 39) in smiling. Chi-square/Fischer exact test were used to associate the facial, gingival and dental characteristics between groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The subjects that reported to be non-confident in smiling were statistically associated with smile type (p = 0.030) and wrongly positioned teeth (p = 0.047). On the other hand, gender (p = 0.491), marital status (p = 0.217), gum pigmentation (p = 0.930), midline (p = 0.176), volume of the upper (p = 0.380), and lower (p = 0.615) lips were not associated with self-reported confidence in smiling.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In patients seeking dental treatment in a public dental university, non-confidence in smiling was associated only with some oral and intraoral characteristics and not with demographic characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that only smile type and wrongly positioned teeth were statistically associated with confidence in smiling. Dentists should pay attention to those intraoral characteristics, but the clinical decision making should always include the patients' perception. (J Esthet Restor Dent 29:E56-E66, 2017).
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Francisco Wilker Mustafa Gomes
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3945-1752
authors.initials: FWMG
authors.lastname: Muniz
authors.affiliation: Student Fellow, School of Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Denise Juaçaba
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Cavalcante
authors.affiliation: Professor of Periodontology, School of Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Mônica Studart Mendes
authors.initials: MMSM
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.affiliation: Professor of Operative Dentistry, School of Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lidiany Karla Azevedo
authors.initials: LKA
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Professor of Operative Dentistry, School of Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carlos Augusto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: de Oliveira Fernandes
authors.affiliation: Professor of the Post-Graduate program in Nursing, Nutrition and Health, State University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulo César
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.affiliation: Professor of Periodontology, School of Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosimary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Sousa Carvalho
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005145:Face / Q000473:pathology; D005881:Gingiva / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D012904:Smiling