Miss Italy breaks taboo and elects candidate with orthodontic braces

The 2025 edition of Miss Universe Italy crowned 18-year-old Katia Buchicchio as the most beautiful woman in the country and broke a taboo by choosing, for the first time, an Italian woman who wears braces.

The beauty contest was held on Monday night (15) in Porto San Giorgio, near Fermo, in Marche.

Standing at 1.75m tall and from Anzi, a small town in the province of Potenza, the young woman becomes the first Miss from Basilicata, in southern Italy.

"Her victory is a recognition of her beauty, but also of the talent, grace and determination that our region can express," celebrated the region's governor, Vito Bardi.

This year's edition featured a series of competitions that went beyond appearance. In total, there were seven different challenges designed "to evaluate the girls not only for their beauty, but also for their talent and creativity." The tests also included posture, dancing, singing, and acting.

For the president of the Society of Periodontology and Implantology (SIdP) and professor at the University of Florence, Francesco Cairo, "the image of the beauty queen" wearing braces "breaks a long-standing taboo", mainly because, "in public opinion, orthodontic braces are often associated with adolescence or perceived as something unexpected".

"Today, however, they represent an increasingly popular treatment option, even among young adults," he added.

According to Cairo, "the beauty queen's success becomes an opportunity to dismantle traditional standards of beauty, which do not mean immediate perfection, but also involve treatments that improve function and aesthetics over time."

"Social media has spread such a standardized image of beauty and perfection that it is somewhat surprising to see such a common choice to wear braces," Cairo concludes, emphasizing that it is "a choice that affects millions of people in our country."