The influence of craniofacial to standing height proportion on perceived attractiveness.

An idealised male image, based on Vitruvian Man, was created. The craniofacial height was altered from a proportion of 1/6 to 1/10 of standing height, creating 10 images shown in random order to 89 observers (74 lay people; 15 clinicians), who ranked the images from the most to the least attractive. The main outcome was the preference ranks of image attractiveness given by the observers. Linear regressions were used to assess what influences the choice for the most and the least attractive images, followed by a multivariate rank ordinal logistic regression to test the influence of age, gender, ethnicity and professional status of the observer. A craniofacial height to standing height proportion of 1/7.5 was perceived as the most attractive (36%), followed by a proportion of 1/8 (26%). The images chosen as most attractive by more than 10% of observers had a mean proportion of 1/7.8(min=1/7; max=1/8.5). The images perceived as most unattractive had a proportion of 1/6 and 1/10. The choice of images was not influenced by the age, gender, ethnicity or professional status of the observers. The ideal craniofacial height to standing height proportion is in the range 1/7 to 1/8.5. This finding should be considered when planning treatment to alter craniofacial or facial height.

Smile aesthetics.

The aim of this article is to outline some of the factors practitioners should take into consideration when planning optimal smile aesthetics. The components of the smile that will be discussed include the smile are, incisor/gingival display, smile width, gingival aesthetics, tooth proportionality/symmetry, contacts/connectors/embrasures and the dental midlines.

Long-term stability of limiting nasal alar base width changes with a cinch suture following Le Fort I osteotomy with submental intubation.

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the nasal alar base cinch suture following Le Fort I osteotomy at long-term follow-up. One hundred and forty participants (89 female, 51 male) aged between 16 and 51 years underwent Le Fort I osteotomy with submental intubation. Anthropometric measurements of the nose were taken intraoperatively, immediately postoperative, and for up to 3 years postoperative: the maximum lateral convexity of the alae (Al-Al) and the lateral extremity of the alar base curvature at the alar groove (Ac-Ac). The use of a cinch suture was recorded. The results were analysed using a linear mixed-effects model analysis. One hundred and six participants had cinch sutures and 34 had no cinch sutures. Following Le Fort I osteotomy, there were significant increases in Ac-Ac (by 4.29mm) and Al-Al (by 3.70mm) (both P<0.0001). Cinch sutures significantly reduced the widths back to preoperative values (P<0.0001). Alar width remained stable over 3 years, with an increase of 0.36mm for Al-Al (P>0.05) and 1.03mm for Ac-Ac (P<0.05) compared to the postoperative measurement. In conclusion, a cinch suture was helpful in reducing the unwanted alar base width changes, which were found to be relatively stable at 3 years.

Treatment of dental fears: pharmacology or psychology?

Fear of dental treatment constitutes one of the major obstacles to receiving dental treatment, in both the UK and the USA. Treatment for such fear can be pharmacological or psychological, or a combination of both. In this article the aetiology, diagnosis and treatment of dental fear will be described and the treatment methods compared.

Systematic review of changes in maxillary incisor exposure and upper lip position with Le Fort I type osteotomies with or without cinch sutures and/or VY closures.

The aim was to systematically review the maxillary incisor exposure and upper lip position changes with Le Fort I type osteotomies for advancement ± impaction with rigid internal fixation, taking into account the use of cinch sutures and VY closures. Electronic databases (Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, and Web of Science) were searched using medical subject headings (MeSH), key words, truncations, and Boolean operators. Hand searching was also undertaken. Of 979 articles identified, 15 were included (11 retrospective, two prospective, and two unspecified). Relevant study details and outcomes were recorded on a spreadsheet, along with an assessment of their quality. In total, these studies assessed 419 patients (266 female, 118 male) with a mean age of 26.4 years (range 14-57 years). Soft tissue changes were assessed on lateral cephalometric radiographs. The mean maxillary hard tissue advancement and impaction ranged between 0.94 and 8.77 mm and -0.56 and 4.2 mm, respectively. The ranges of ratios demonstrated that from pronasale (0.24-0.35) to labrale superius (0.36-1.43), the soft tissues followed the underlying horizontal hard tissue movement increasingly more closely. Alar base cinch sutures and VY closures tended to increase these ratios. The soft tissue response was more variable vertically. None of the studies reported on maxillary incisor exposure change. More good quality prospective studies are needed.

Assessing the influence of chin prominence on perceived attractiveness in the orthognathic patient, clinician and layperson.

The purpose of this investigation was to undertake an objective and quantitative evaluation of how the degree of chin prominence influences perceived attractiveness. The chin prominence of an idealized profile image was altered in 2 mm increments from -24 to 12 mm, in order to represent retrusion and protrusion of the chin, respectively. These images were rated on a 7-point Likert scale by a pre-selected group of pre-treatment orthognathic patients, clinicians and laypeople. In treatment planning to alter the sagittal prominence of the chin in an individual with an otherwise normal soft tissue facial profile, an 'ideal' sagittal position with soft tissue pogonion on or just behind a true vertical line through subnasale may be used. Chin retrusion or protrusion up to 4mm is essentially unnoticeable. Surgery is desired for chin protrusions greater than 6mm and retrusions greater than 10mm. The overall direction of aesthetic opinion appears to be the same for all the observer groups; the greater the retrusion or prominence of the chin, the less the rating of the perceived attractiveness and the greater the desire for surgical correction.

Adult and paediatric basic life support: an update for the dental team.

The aim of this paper is to review the current Resuscitation Council (UK) basic life support guidelines. The main changes made to the guidelines published in 2000 are that for adult basic life support no initial rescue breaths should be delivered before commencing chest compressions and that the compression to ventilation ratio should be 30:2 irrespective of the number of rescuers. For children over the age of one year, two rescuers should provide life support with a compression to ventilation ratio of 15:2. There is still a need to deliver rescue breaths before starting compressions in the child patient.