This document discusses the importance of studying the color of natural teeth when recreating dental restorations. It defines color as a psychological response to light reflected or transmitted by an object which is determined by its hue, chroma, and value. Common color systems and the optical properties of teeth including metamerism, opalescence, translucency, and fluorescence are described. Requirements for proper shade matching including lighting, patient positioning, and use of shade guides or digital colorimeters are provided. A study analyzing the most frequent natural tooth colors in the Spanish population using spectrophotometry is summarized, finding the top shades varied by gender and age group.

1. Keerat Kuckreja
II BDS

2. WHY DO WE NEED TO STUDY THE COLOR OF NATURAL
TEETH?
Recreate
Form
Shape and
Color of teeth
Communicate
Accurate
Details to the
LAB
Scientific
Documentation
and Record
Universal
Communication
and expression

3. What is Color ?
The quality of an object or substance
with respect to light reflected by it.
Usually determined visually by measureme
nt of three properties:
 Hue ,
 Chroma
 Value.
It can also be define as a psychological
response to a physical stimulus.

4. HUE
• Dominant range of wavelengths that yields a
perceived color.
• It is the visual quality which distinguishes one family
from the other
CHROMA
• Degree of saturation of a particular hue and measures
the intensity of color
• Degree of lightness or darkness of a color
• Value of 0 = Black
• Value of 10 = White
VALUE

5. COLOR SYSTEMS
MUNSELL COLOR SYSTEM CIELAB COLOR SYSTEM

6. Normal Teeth of a teenager with
white stains
Value of the teeth enhanced with
Dental Bleaching

7. THE OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURAL TEETH
METAMERISM OPALESCENSETRANSLUCENCY FLUORESCENCE

8. Metamerism
• Objects that appear to be different
colors when viewed in different light
conditions
• More opaque the ceramic --- more
metamerism
Color Corrected 5500k Incandescent source 2896K
Flourescent source 4000K
Translucency
•Transmission and diffusion
of light
Conveys depth and vitality

9. Opalescence
• It’s the ability of the object to appear
• Blue or
• red orange in reflected or transmitted light
• Under direct illumination
• Reflectance of short wavelengths( blue)
• Absorption of long wavelength ( red orange)
• Under Transillumination
• Reflectance of long wavelength ( red orange)
• Absortption of short wavelength ( blue)
• Enamel is more opalescent than dentine

10. Flourescence
• In fluorescent light , teeth absorb
the energy and convert in to light
with longer wavelength.
• Tooth becomes an actual source of
light.
• It emits light of 400-450 nm.

11. SHADE MATCHING
MEASUREMENT OF
SHADE
Hue Based
Shade Tabs
Value Based
Shade Tabs
Digital
Colorimeters
Shade
matching
softwares

12. Hue based shade guides
Value based shade guides

13. Digital Colorimeters
VITA EASYSHADE
SPECTROPHOTOMETER

14. DENTAL SHADE MATCHING SOFTWARES

15. REQUIREMENTS OF SHADE MATCHING
• Use correct environment & lighting.
• Shade selected at the beginning of appointments.
• Patient should be sitting upright.
• Dentist should be at a distance of at least 20 cm from teeth.
• Patients teeth and dentist eyes should be at the same level.

16. Illumination & sources
• Daylight ( 6500 K)
• Variable depending the time of the day, cloud cover
• Fluorescent tube lightings produce 5500°K light with CRI of 95%.
• Tungsten/incandescent bulb—2800ºK - 3200ºK and a CRI of 100%
Rite-Lite 2 offers three modes of light for shade
taking:
• Natural daylight at 5500 degreeK
• Incandescent light (indoor) at 3200 degreeK
• Ambient light (combination of indoor and outdoor
light) at 3900 degreeK

17. Shade Determination
Vita 3D Shade guide

20. Study of the most frequent natural tooth colors in the Spanish
population using spectrophotometry
• The study was based on the measurement of the natural tooth color of 1361 maxillary central incisors of Caucasian Spanish
participants (671 men and 690 women) aged between 16 and 89 years and distributed homogeneously according to gender and
age. All participants were asked to read and sign an informed consent form for participation in the study, which was approved by
the Research Ethics Committee of the San Carlos Clinic (Madrid. One clinician (a woman of 30 with 8 years of experience, initials
CGP) made the measurements with the same spectrophotometer (Easyshade Compact; Vita Zahnfabrik) with a standardized
protocol for color evaluation.. All the participants were evaluated at the Department of Prosthodontics, School of Odontology,
Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.
• All recordings were made in the same room under fluorescent tubes with a luminescence intensity of between 1200 and 1500 lux.
The upper central incisor has frequently been used to assess tooth color, as a representative of an individual's natural tooth
color. The natural maxillary central incisors of the participants were healthy, with no restoration and no artificial whitening, and
were cleaned before their color was measured. Before the recordings were made, a hygienic protector was placed on the probe tip
(5 mm in diameter), and the lamp was calibrated. After calibration, the probe tip was placed in contact with and perpendicular to
the middle third of the facial surface of the tooth.
• Color was determined on the middle third of the tooth, which is the area that best illustrates tooth shade. Measurements were
made in Single Tooth mode with Easyshade compact spectrophotometer). The color of the patient's clothes was neutralized with
a gray cloth.. In order to determine the most frequent colors in the different age groups, the participants were recruited into three
groups according to age: between 16 and 30 (young group), between 31 and 59 (middle-aged group), and above the age of 60 and
up to a maximum of 89 (elderly group). These groups were subdivided according to gender.
Most frequent colors in 3D master system
Gender Men (n = 671) Women (n = 690)
Age
groups
16 - 30
years
31 - 59
years
60 - 89
years
16 - 30
years
31 - 59
years
60 - 89
years
Shade tab
(Percentag
e)
1M1.5
(14.56%)
3M1
(10.13%)
4.5M1.5
(8.77%)
1M1.5
(21.66%)
2M1
(10.84%)
3M1
(9.82%)
Shade tab
(Percentag
e)
1M2
(13.59%)
2.5L1.5
(5.91%)
4.5M2.5
(7.89%)
1M1
(13.82%)
2L1.5
(10.04%)
2.5L1.5
(5.80%)
Shade tab
(Percentag
e)
1.5M1.5
(9.71%)
3.5L1.5
(5.06%)
3M1
(4.82%)
2L1.5
(10.14%)
3M1
(10.04%)
3.5M1
(5.36%

21. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Philips
Wikipedia
IDT-Optical characteristics of natural teeth
Vita 3D shade guide instructions
 Study of the most frequent natural tooth colors in the
Spanish population using spectrophotometry
Cristina Gómez-Polo, 1 Miguel Gómez-Polo,2 Juan Antonio
Martínez Vázquez de Parga,2 and Alicia Celemín Viñuela2
JCD_Spring2016_ShadeWave.pdf
VITA-Easyshade intructions
www.shadewave.com