Maxillary dental midline deviation in the patient perspective

Objective: This study aimed to determine aesthetic perceptions of midline deviations by orthodontic patients; influence of adjacent structures to smile in the perception of deviations; and difference between patients treated in University and in private practice. Methods: In this observational comparative cross-sectionalstudy a smiling woman photograph was digitally modified, producing left maxillary dental midline deviations relative to facial midline. Twelve photographs were cropped in Group LCN including lips, chin and 2/3 of the nose; and group L including the lips. Non-parametric Friedman test ( = 0.05), followed by Wilcoxon test corrected by Bonferroni test ( = 0.0033) were used for multiple comparisons. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to study of the correlation and regression of the degree of smile esthetics on the midline deviations, adopting a significance level of 5%. Results: Patients were able to identify deviations from 2 mm. Among the groups of photos there was statistically significant difference in deviations of 2 and 3 mm. Comparing patients from University and private there was significant difference when comparing the photos in group LCN, without deviation and deviation of 2, 4 and 5 mm. Conclusions: Orthodontic patients are able to detect maxillary dental midline deviation from 2 mm. There was influence of viewing structures adjacent to smile in the perception of deviation for the private patients. University patients were more critical than private patients.