Introduction: Attractiveness plays an important role in personal self-esteem and social relationships, influencing our daily life. Therefore, it is essential to know the characteristics of a beautiful face.
Objectives: The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the relationship between facial attractiveness and several hard and soft tissue cephalometric variables, in individuals with Class I and III.
Material and methods: Facial attractiveness of 40 individuals with skeletal Class I and III was determined by 14 laymen using a Visual Analog Scale, in the frontal, frontal smiling, profile, and the triplet photographs. Facial attractiveness scores were correlated with the cephalometric analysis, through a non-linear regression.
Results: A quadratic correlation described by a U-shaped curve was verified, between the distance LLip-SnPog' line and the attractiveness of the frontal (r=0,52, p=0,003) and profile photographs (r=0,42, p=0,003); and between the SNA angle and the triplet attractiveness (r=0,49, p=0,006). Maximum attractivity scores were found with LLip-SnPog'=3,8mm/3,7mm and SNA=83,8 degrees. Discussion and
Conclusions: The correlation between cephalometric variables and facial attractiveness may assume a non-linear relationship, represented by a parabola of lower concavity, where the turning point corresponds to the maximum attractiveness. Few studies have investigated this type of correlation. Facial attractiveness assessed from the frontal and profile photographs showed a non-linear correlation with a soft tissue cephalometric variable assessing lip protrusion, and the facial attractiveness of the triplet with a skeletal measurement, the SNA angle.