Influence of in vitro pigmenting of esthetic orthodontic ligatures on smile attractiveness

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the perception of dental students and orthodontists on the degree of influence that pigmented esthetic elastic ligatures have on smile attractiveness, by judging clinical photographs. METHODS: Sixteen clinical facial photographs of the smile and 16 close up images of the smile of a single patient wearing monocrystalline porcelain orthodontic brackets, Teflon coated NiTi wire brackets and esthetic elastic ligatures of five different commercial brands were distributed into eight groups, G1 to G8 (Morelli®, Ortho Tecnology™, TP Orthodontics™, Unitek/3M™clear, Unitek/3M™ obscure, American Orthodontics™ clear, American Orthodontics™ pearl and American Orthodontics™ metallic pearl). Twenty ligatures were used in each group, totaling 160 ligatures. Half of them were used in their natural state, and the other half after in vitro pigmentation. All the photographs were judged by 40 evaluators, 20 orthodontists and 20 dental students. RESULTS: For orthodontists, American™ pearl (G7) ligatures were those that least influenced the degree of attractiveness of the smile in the two types of photographs used. For the dental students, in the facial photographs of the smile, ligatures with the best performance were Morelli® (G1), American™ clear (G6) and American™ pearl (G7) and in the close up photographs of the smile, American™ pearl, metallic pearl and clear (G7, G8 and G6). CONCLUSIONS: For both orthodontists and dental students, pigmentation of the elastic ligatures had a negative influence on the degree of attractiveness of smiles in the two types of clinical photographs evaluated.