Correlation Between Cephalometric Measures and End-of-Treatment Facial Attractiveness

Sixty-nine experienced Chinese orthodontists evaluated 108 Chinese patients' facial attractiveness from set of photographs (frontal, lateral, and frontal smiling photos) taken at the end of orthodontic treatment. These 108 patients, which contained an equal number of patients with Class I, II, and III malocclusion, were randomly selected from 6 orthodontic treatment centers throughout China. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients (r(s)) analyses were performed to examine agreement in ranking between all judge pairs. Pearson correlation and multivariate regression were performed to examine the correlation between cephalometric measures and end-of-treatment Photo Attractiveness Rank. 96.68% judge pairs showed moderate correlated (+0.4 <= r(s) < +0.7) subjective rankings. Cephalometric measures significantly correlated with end-of-treatment Photo Attractiveness Rank included interincisal angle (r = 0.330, P < 0.05), L1/MP degrees (r = 0.386, P < 0.05), L1-NBmm (r = 0.451, P < 0.01), L1/NB degrees (r = 0.374, P < 0.05), and profile angle (r = 0.353, P < 0.05) in Class I patients with an explained variance of 32.8%, and ANB angle (r = 0.432, P < 0.01), angle of convexity (r = 0.448, P < 0.01), profile angle (r = 0.488, P < 0.01), Li to E-line (r = 0.374, P < 0.05), Li to B-line (r = 0.543, P < 0.01), and Z angle (r = 0.543, P < 0.01) in Class II patient with an explained variance of 43.3%. There was less association than expected between objective measurements on the lateral cephalograms and clinicians' rankings of facial attractiveness on clinical photography in Chinese patients. Straight-stand lower incisor was desired for facial attractiveness of Class I malocclusion; and sagittal relationship and lip prominence influence the esthetics of Class II malocclusion in Chinese population.Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [81371192]SCI(E)PubMedARTICLEtmxuortho@gmail.com2405-4092