A comparison of contemporary cultural preferences of American laypeople in cross-race and same-race soft tissue profiles of East Asian and Caucasian models

Facial esthetics play a pivotal role in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning, but foundational research that informs contemporary orthodontic practice has been predominantly based on Caucasian populations. This limitation creates a gap when treating East Asian patients, who may have distinct esthetic preferences and facial characteristics. Our study seeks to analyze the influence of culture on esthetic preferences of laypeople in cross-race and same-race East Asian and Caucasian soft tissue profiles, identify differences in contemporary lip position and profile preferences, and evaluate the impact of raters’ ethnicity, and gender on preferences.