It's often been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But when it comes to your smile, it turns out that there's some things that people can agree upon. A review in the Journal of the American Dental Association examined multiple articles and studies in dental aesthetics and found that there are some things that people generally agree upon when it comes to rating smiles – and some things where personal preference varies.

Of course, when you're thinking about improving your smile through cosmetic dentistry, what's most important is that you feel attractive. But if you don't have a strong preference, it can be worth looking at how other people are likely to react to your smile.

Tooth Shape And Size

Rounded teeth are usually associated with youth since the edges of teeth wear down to become straighter with age; however, the study didn't find a clear winner for tooth shape. This is one of those areas where you have quite a bit of freedom – there's no reason not to aim for the shape of tooth you find most attractive. What people did generally agree about was the attractiveness of smaller teeth on women and larger teeth on men.

Both the size and shape of your teeth can be altered with bonding or veneers. Whether you would prefer your teeth to be longer, wider, or rounder, shaving away small amounts of enamel and applying porcelain caps or composite bonding can make quite a difference in the appearance of the individual teeth that make up your smile.

Tooth Spacing

Gaps between teeth, known clinically as diastemas, are another area where people agree: it's better to have gapless, evenly-spaced teeth. This is good news since tooth gaps can be more than just an aesthetic issue; they also make it easy for food to get trapped between teeth, increasing the chances of decay and cavities.

For tooth gaps that are large or that go along with crooked teeth, orthodontics is often the answer. Metal braces are the most visually obvious choice, but they have the advantage of working more quickly; clear plastic aligners work more slowly, but many people prefer them because of their unobtrusiveness. Both are almost always covered by dental insurance since misaligned teeth are considered a medical issue.

For smaller gaps that are largely cosmetic dental problems, bonding and veneers are the best solutions. Adding material to the teeth can erase the gap immediately, turning a diastema into an opportunity to reshape your teeth to be more even and symmetrical.

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