Review articleAdvances in color matching
Section snippets
Nature of color
Color is all about light. For color to be seen, light is reflected from an object and stimulates the neural sensors in the eye's retina to send a signal that is interpreted in the visual cortex of the brain. There are numerous possibilities along this pathway for altering the final registration.
Visual shade-matching environment
Recommended environmental conditions for color matching have changed little since the early 1970s, except perhaps with regard to illuminants. The light source is critically important because of its influence on the quality and intensity of light reaching the teeth to be matched. Although we traditionally have sought natural daylight as the best color-matching light source, it is not dependable because of its variable color temperature, which influences its spectral composition, and its
Shade guides
Shade guides that are the most widely used today have not changed much in the last 50 years, except for the addition of a few more tab colors. In the early 1970s, Sproull [34], [35], [36] published a series of articles examining color matching in dentistry and made sound suggestions to the profession and manufacturers for the direction of research and product development. In the approximately 25 years that followed, numerous studies identified additional limitations of available shade guides
Shade-taking devices
These devices have been designed to aid clinicians and technicians in the specification and control of tooth color. The earliest color-measuring device designed specifically for clinical dental use was a filter colorimeter. The Chromascan (Sterngold, Stamford, Connecticut) was introduced in the early 1980s but enjoyed limited success due to its inadequate design and accuracy [41], [42]. Further development was hindered primarily by lack of resources and commitment on industry's side—the market
Shade communication
Tooth appearance information beyond a basic single-shade designation is required when the restoration is in an esthetically prominent location. Shade mapping, which can be accomplished visually and instrumentally, is becoming a basic component of the work authorization. Characterization can be located on a drawing but may be more helpful if drawn on a cast that duplicates the size, shape, and contours of the requested restoration. Appropriate length and incisal edge position is best
Summary
Media emphasis on an “esthetic standard” is probably responsible for driving the most recent advances in dental imaging and shade matching. Although we tend to focus on color matching, it is an appearance match that we are after, so the optical properties of translucency, light scattering, surface texture, and gloss and the basic principles of esthetics, including tooth size and proportion, symmetry, outline form, and overall harmony are just as important, if not more so, to a successful
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