Beauty and the teeth
Subtitle
Perception of tooth color and its influence on the overall judgment of facial attractiveness
Publication date
2007
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
Universität Leipzig, Institut für Allgemeine Psychologie
ISSN
Series or journal
The international journal of periodontics & restorative dentistry
Periodical volume
27
Periodical issue
4
First page
348
Last page
357
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
Nein
Abstract
This study investigated the influence of changes in tooth color on judgments of facial attractiveness. Standardized photographs were presented, and teeth were digitally manipulated (main categories: original, whitened, colored; filler category: impaired). Participants were instructed to evaluate the faces for attractiveness. Additionally, they were asked to name facial features they found either positive or negative with regard to attractiveness. Whitened teeth were mentioned more often in a positive way but did not improve participants' assessment of attractiveness. A colored tooth did not attract attention, and the attractiveness judgment did not worsen. Tooth color is thus not necessarily perceived and does not have a major impact on facial attractiveness.
Version
Published version
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