Study of the influence of cultural factors in the perception of aesthetics in odontology

Object: Evaluation of the influence of cultural parameters in the perception of aesthetics in dentistry. Study of peculiarity or universality in the perception of aesthetics in dentistry. Material and methods: A systematic literature search on MEDLINE (Pub Med) electronic databases, Cochrane Library, as well as a manual search gathering cross- sectional studies conducted in different countries, was conducted using 13 keywords through Boolean equations: Dental aesthetic, Smile, Dental appearance, Tooth color, Perception, Attractiveness, Culture, Race, Diastema, Tooth size, Ethnic groups, Teeth alignment, Well aligned teeth, published from the year 2000. Results: Articles published from the year 2000 and meeting the eligibility criteria were identified after reading their titles and abstracts. 20 articles have been selected. Five criteria influencing the perception of the smile were studied: the diastema, the size of the teeth, the color the alignment of the teeth, the size of the teeth and the gingival exposure. There is no standard judgment on the aesthetic or unsightly nature of the diastema. Similarly for dental color there is no uniform judgment. The cultural factor does not influence the perception of the smile regarding the "alignment" factor, which remains constant among all the populations studied. The factor "gingival exposure" remains unappreciated in the majority of studies. For the last criteria, we concluded that the preference of the large size of the teeth transcends ethnic factors, sex and professional culture. Society influences our aesthetic judgment. Depending on the culture, the aesthetics of the smile may be different. Conclusion: The perception of the smile is in fluenced by several factors: sex, socio-cultural origins... It can vary from one individual to another, and the judgment of the dentist may not coincide with the patients even between dentists in different specialities. Based on the results of this study, it seems necessary to "individualise" most often the treatments for each patient.