Association of the gingival line angle with the gingival and interdental smile line: A gender based evaluation

OBJECTIVE: Gingival line angle (GLA) has been considered an important attribute of an esthetic smile. The purpose of this study was to evaluate GLA on either sides of maxillary arch and correlate it with the gingival smile line (GSL) and interdental smile line (ISL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty periodontally healthy patients with an age range of 20-40 years, equally divided into males and females were included. Standardized digital photographs were taken for assessment of the interdental papillae and smile line. Study models of the participants were used to record the GLA. Gingival thickness (GT) was measured clinically. RESULTS: Although there was consistent difference between the values, the correlation between GLA and GT on either sides of the arch did not indicate positive association. It was revealed that maximum of patients that is, 76.67% and 75% of males and females respectively possessed low GSL. CONCLUSIONS: Although there is a difference between GT and GLA, the difference was statistically insignificant. Majority of the study population exhibited low GSL and high ISL, thereby indicating greater importance for interdental papillae in designing an esthetic smile. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Considering the likely variations based on gender on gingival line angle and the tooth and gingival display in interdental smile line and gingival smile line, these parameters need to be assessed further. It is believed that appropriate assessment of these parameters would enable the clinician to adopt these relationships as guidelines for interdisciplinary treatment procedures.