Sir, I read the paper by Drs Chan, Mehta and Banerji (BDJ 2017;223: 272–278) with interest: a well-designed paper confirming that dentists and non-dentists differ in their judgement of aesthetics depending on how much of the face is exposed. Somewhat naturally the dentists thought the teeth had the most influence in the 'zoomed' views, however when more of the face was exposed in the 'lower two thirds of the face views' the judgements of the two groups became more unified. The authors concluded 'both the lips and teeth seem to contribute to the aesthetic appeal of a smile'.

Interestingly, Perrett et al.1 showed that attractive eyes are one of the most distinctive features of a good looking face. Most eyeballs are very similar and it is the prominence of the zygomatic process which creates much of their beauty. This process of course is part of the maxilla but is an area hardly visible in the views shown in this paper. While most orthodontists consider that the maxilla cannot be moved by appliances, the orthotropic group considers it essential to advance the maxilla to improve appearance. I attach a photograph to illustrate this (Figs 1,2). Those involved in the aesthetics of dentistry should perhaps include most of the face in their observations.

Figure 1
figure 1

Aime age nine

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Figure 2
figure 2

Aime age 13

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