Objective: To compare the influence of dental extractions to non-extraction orthodontic treatment on smile fullness and buccal corridor ratio (BCR).
Materials and Methods: 47 subjects from a university archive had pre- and post-treatment standardized extraoral diagnostic clinical photographs, randomly selected and distributed according to having undergone extractions (Group 1, n=24, 22 females and 2 males, mean age =20.5 ±5 years) pre-treatment, (Group 3, n=24, 22 females and 2 males, mean age =20.5 ±5 years) post treatment, or non-extraction (Group 2, n=23, 18 females and 5 males, mean age=20.9 ± 4 years) pre-treatment, (Group 4, n=23, 18 females and 5 males, mean age=20.9 ± 4 years) post treatment. Buccal Corridor Ratio (BCR) was determined for each subject, and pre/post treatment comparisons were made using T-test statistical analysis.
Results: Extraction group showed a lower BCR compared to non-extraction group; however, this difference was not statistically significant. On the other hand, BCR in both extraction and non-extraction treatment showed significant improvement when comparing the pre and post smile pictures in each subgroup.
Conclusions: Extraction treatment did not “shrink” the dental arch. It was found that dental extractions displayed a lower BCR and better smile esthetics at the end of treatment than the non- extraction group, but this difference was not significant.