Smile and its components - A review

Abstract

The orthodontic profession has always been in pursuit of ideal dentition. The former emphasis on dental and skeletal components is still valid, but greater attention to the soft tissue aspects of orthodontics is now required. Even though patients come to us mainly to improve their smiles, the orthodontic literature contains more studies on skeletal structure than on soft-tissue structure, and the smile still receives relatively little attention. So, the purpose of this article is to review the major components of the smile and discuss their impact on orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning.