Introduction: Nowadays, creating a beautiful smile is considered an art for a reason. Esthetic criteria are based on individual perception, which differs among people of different cultures, ages, education, and genders. An attractive smile should include symmetry of the central incisors, minimally visible gingiva, moderate or minimal buccal corridors, a smile arch that follows the curvature of the lower lip, and the correct shape of the gingival margin in the area of visible teeth. Although we learn to apply these principles in our daily work during our education, it is very difficult to apply them if they are not quantified and supported by scientific research. Many studies have been conducted to examine the perception of smiles in dental specialists or doctors, and laypeople. Such studies examined parameters such as displacement of the maxillary midline, mesiodistal inclination of the incisors, displacement of the mandibular midline in relation to the upper, smile arch, size of the buccal corridors, the form of the gingival margin of the maxillary anterior teeth, and visibility of the gingiva when smiling. In addition to dentofacial and dentogingival parameters, the smile evaluation should also include parameters related to the shape and size of the teeth, such as interincisal edges, incisal step, and the presence of diastemas or so called "black triangles". The perception of these among specialists, doctors of dental medicine, and laypeople differ- specialists are more critical and notice minor anomalies earlier. It is necessary to know which parameters affect the esthetics of the smile and to see the differences in the perception of it among specialists, doctors of dental medicine, students, and laypeople within our population in order to implement this scientific data in clinical work. The very experience of beauty is also influenced by media visual stimuli to which we are exposed every day. Studies involving television content have shown that watching short commercials can change women's perception of their own appearance. Social networks have become an indispensable part of our lives. Instagram is a social network replete with visual stimuli, either in the form of photos or in the form of short videos, which can influence the expectations of patients undergoing orthodontic or prosthetic treatment. Previous research shows that the content younger population is exposed to on social networks affects their demands regarding dental esthetics, and this is statistically more significant in the female population. In the existing literature, there is not enough data on the extent to which such content, placed by professional dental staff or persons who are not medically educated, affects the perception of smiles among the population. Aim: To examine the differences in the perception of doctors and specialists in dental medicine, students, and laypeople with regard to small variations in the esthetics of a smile, and to investigate the influence of social network content on the perception of a smile among specialists and doctors of dental medicine, students, and laypeople. Participants and method: In the first part of this study, 680 respondents participated, of which 21.7% were men and 78.83% were women. They evaluated photos of faces and smiles that were digitally altered to emphasize different study parameters. The respondents were divided into 5 groups: laypeople, students of dental medicine from the first to the third year of study, students of dental medicine from the fourth to the sixth year of study, doctors of dental medicine, and specialists. One month after completing the survey, the respondents were divided into a control group and an experimental group. The total number of respondents who agreed to participate in the second part of the research is 360 (174 in the experimental group, 186 in the control group). The experimental group followed an Instagram profile, on which photos of beautiful smiles were posted twice a day, for 7 days, while the control group was not exposed. After the broadcasting of images on Instagram, both groups completed the same survey a second time. After the analysis of demographic data, the differences in the assessment of a particular anomaly between the groups of subjects were tested with the Kruskal-Wallis test, and in order to see in which groups there is a difference, Dunn's post hoc test was applied. Differences between the ratings of the perfect smile image and each individual anomaly within the groups were tested by the Wilcoxon paired-samples test. In the second part of the research, a comparison of anomaly scores between the experimental and control groups was made at the initial point of measurement and at the point of measurement 30 days after exposure to dental content on the social network with the help of the Mann-Whitney U-test, while the difference in test responses between the initial point of measurement and after exposure to perfect content on social media within individual groups was tested using the Wilcoxon paired-samples test. In addition, with the help of the Mann-Whitney U-test, the difference in the amount of percentage change between the test and control groups was tested. Results: The perception of maxillary midline deviation in the amount of 2 mm, mandibular midline deviation in the amount of 3 mm, inclination of incisors, occlusal cant, reversed smile line, asymmetry of maxillary central incisors, rounded and squared incisal embrasures, nonexistent incisal step along with self-perception differs between groups of respondents. The experimental group rated the rounded incisal embrasures with lower esthetic scores compared to the control group that was not exposed to images on the social network Instagram. In those exposed to Instagram (experimental group), laypeople showed significantly greater satisfaction with their own smile after exposure to social network content, whereas no such difference was found in the control group. Conclusion: The perception of different parameters of a smile differs between groups of respondents, and the content of social media content may influence the perception of a smile, most visibly with regard to incisal embrasures and self-perception of a smile.