The Perception of Smile Attractiveness among Female Students of Herat University, Herat, Afghanistan, 2024

Having a beautiful smile affects social relationships, career achievement, and personality development. Everyone has a different opinion of how attractive a smile is.

This study aimed to assess information about the perception of smile attractiveness toward different characteristics of smiles among students of Herat University.

A comprehensive descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 215 female students from 17 different faculties of Herat University. A questionnaire with two main sections was prepared: The demographic information section and the questions section with prepared questions about the perception of smile attractiveness toward different characteristics of smiles. The participants answered the questions by themselves or the interviewer.

After coding the answers, the questionnaire was categorized according to the answers, interred, and analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 25 (SPSS, version 25, IBM Corp).

The chi-square test was performed to compare descriptive data, such as frequencies, with qualitative data. p-values smaller than 0.05 were considered significant.

The most attractive smile according to different characteristics of a smile was a low smile (50.93%), consonant smile arc (48.11%), commissure smile type (52.09%), classic marginal shape (79.53%), displaying teeth up to the second premolar (47.44%), straight upper lip curvature (64.19%) and a slightly touching relationship of maxillary anterior teeth with the lower lip (51.63%).

To achieve satisfactory outcomes in oral rehabilitation, dentists should always bear in mind that everyone has a different opinion of how attractive a smile is and that each case needs to be evaluated separately while taking the patient's expectations and preferences into account.