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Evaluating and Establishing Ideal Smile Esthetics : Beauty is More than Skin Deep

Course Number: 649

Occlusal Plane Orientation

A cant of occlusal plane impacts the relationship between the maxillary teeth and the border of the lower lip both at rest and during full smile.16 A cant of the maxillary occlusal plane directed upward and anteriorly will result in maxillary incisal edges that do not follow the curvature of the lower lip, reducing esthetics during smile. When evaluating layperson perception of facial esthetics in individuals with a commissure line cant, laypeople express a preference for occlusal plane with a transverse occlusal plan with a similar and coincident cant.17 This preference may be due to the resultant concordance of the maxillary incisal edges with the lower lip and symmetry of incisal edges and gingival margins.