ABSTRACT
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: There are two methods of color choice for the esthetic restoration. One is visual shade matching which draws a comparison between shade guide and teeth in dentist's own eye and the other is using a digital shade analysis system recently introduced. Although the visual shade matching has a lot of problems, decision of color by this visual shade matching and the ways of expression for the decided color are still applicable to clinical dentistry. PURPOSE: This study is designed to investigate shade guides used in the dental clinics and laboratories have the same value using ShadeEye-NCC(R). dental chroma meter (Shofu Inc., Kyoto, Japan) using shade guide are evaluated. MATERIAL AND METHODS: At the first experiment, eight Vita Lumin Vacuum shade guides (Vident Inc., California, USA) were collected from the dental clinics. A1 and B1 shade tabs are chosen and the colors are analyzed five times each in both tooth and porcelain modes by digital shade analysis system, ShadeEye-NCC(R). In the second experiment, twelve Vita shade guides using practically in the dental clinics and laboratories were collected and also A1 and B1 shade tabs are chosen and the colors of A1 and B1 are analyzed one time each in both tooth and porcelain modes by ShadeEye-NCC(R). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: There were significant differences among eight shade guides in terms of shade (chroma), value and hue in both of A1 and B1 (P < .05). Shade guides using in present both dental clinics and laboratories did not show significant differences, except A1 in the porcelain mode, it showed significant differences (P < .05) in the shade even though the shade tab has the same name.