Dr. Anne Beall, a social psychologist and market research professional carried out an independent study on behalf of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). Pictures of eight individuals were shown to 528 Americans, a statistically valid cross section of the population. The respondents were asked to quickly judge the eight people as to how attractive, intelligent, happy, successful in their career, friendly, interesting, kind, wealthy, popular with the opposite sex, and sensitive to other people they were.
Two sets of photos were created, with each set showing four individuals before undergoing cosmetic dentistry, and four after treatment. Half the respondents viewed set A, the other half set B. The eight subjects viewed by respondents were evenly divided by gender. Two had mild improvements through cosmetic dentistry, two had moderate improvements, and four had major improvements to their smiles, to give a wide range for respondents to view. None, however, had visibly rotten teeth, missing teeth or catastrophically bad dental health in the before shots. Respondents were not told that they were looking at dentistry, but were asked to make snap judgments rating each person for the ten characteristics, on a scale of one to ten, with “one” being “not at all,” and “ten” being “extremely.”
The results indicated that an attractive smile does have broad ranging benefits:
| Characteristic Average | “Before” rating | “After” rating | Increase |
| Attractive | 4.6 | 5.9 | 1.3 |
| Intelligent | 5.9 | 6.5 | .6 |
| Happy | 6.2 | 6.8 | .4 |
| Successful in their career | 5.8 | 6.7 | .9 |
| Friendly | 6.3 | 6.8 | .5 |
| Interesting | 5.4 | 6.1 | .7 |
| Kind | 6.0 | 6.4 | .4 |
| Wealthy | 4.9 | 5.9 | 1.0 |
| Popular with the opposite sex | 5.0 | 6.2 | 1.2 |
| Sensitive to other people | 5.6 | 6.1 | .5 |
“Based on a lot of interaction with happy patients, we were expecting this type of difference in attractiveness and popularity with the opposite sex,” said Dr. Marty Zase, President of AACD, “but to have large gains in how successful, intelligent, interesting and wealthy patients appeared after cosmetic dentistry caught even us by surprise. We’ve been telling people that a beautiful smile was a great investment in their futures. Now we have independent evidence.”
While the change was most dramatic for Attractive, Popular with the opposite sex, Wealthy and Successful in their career, the change was statically significant in all areas.
Contact Dr. Fallah, your San Diego Cosmetic Dentist, for a Beautiful New Year!
