Can identical dental shade guides be used interchangeably?

Abstract

Objective: To determine if identical dental shade guides can be used interchangeably considering their precision.Materials and methods: Twenty Vita classical (VC) and Vita 3D-Master (VM) shade guides were subjected to spectrophotometric measurements and their CIELab values were measured in three shade tab regions: incisal, middle, and cervical and also in total. The mean L*, a*, and b* values for analogous shade tabs were calculated to identify CIELab values for typical shades. ΔE 00 color differences between a typical shade and its analogous shade tabs were measured. ΔE 00 values were compared with perceptibility (ΔE 00 = 0.8) and acceptability (ΔE 00 = 1.8) thresholds using one-sample t test (α = 0.05). An error was considered when the ΔE 00 value was greater than the threshold. Subsequently, the shade guides' precision scores were calculated.Results: Mean ΔE 00 values ranged between 0.3 and 0.5 for VC tabs and between 0.3 and 0.6 for VM tabs. Precision scores for both shade guides ranged from 83.3% to 100%, considering the perceptibility threshold. Regarding the acceptability threshold, precision scores for VC ranged from 93.3% to 100%, while the precision scores for VM were 100%.Conclusions: Owing to high precision of VC and VM, identical dental shade guides can be used interchangeably.Clinical Significance: Using identical dental shade guides interchangeably may affect the color results of restorative treatments. This study identified high levels of precision for identical shade tabs of Vita classical and Vita 3D-Master across different batches. Thus, similar dental shade guides can be used interchangeably.

Aesthetic Dentistry - What You Decided and What I Want: Shade Selection

“…This study has certain limitations, such as only one type of shade guide used in this study, i.e., VITAPAN 3D Master™, which has too many shades to choose from, causing some confusion, especially for the patients [13,14]. However, if appropriately utilized, the VITAPAN 3D Master™ is made to reduce options to seven in one step, so it shouldn't be a problem.…”

Degree of Standardisation in Ceramic Gingival Systems

“…This is not the case for dental colour: there are no distinct dental shades with the same name, and a shared, universal language exists. A recent study on dental shade guides showed that the Vita Classical and Vita 3D Master guides [44] could be used interchangeably, with a high level of precision for different batches, and satisfactory scores for accuracy; however, the colour differences between distinct basic gingival colours produced by the same manufacturer do exceed the clinical acceptability threshold, which is a desirable characteristic for subjective gingival shade selection (Table 3). Ideally, these colour differences between each of the manufacturer's consecutive basic colours should be homogeneous and equidistantly spaced in the three-dimensional colour space, which is not the case.…”

“…The advantages of this spectrophotometer include its large aperture, enabling it to capture the entirety of the object being measured, as well as its nearperfect scores for repeatability and reproducibility [51], and the fact that it is unaffected by metamerism [69]. Despite these advantages, the 'edge loss phenomenon' does occur, and this could have been minimized by using spectroradiometry [44]. Additional weaknesses include the fact that only one sample was produced for each gingival colour examined and that neither the thickness nor translucency parameters of the gingival shade tabs were taken into consideration.…”

“…Given that the type of shade guide can have a decisive influence on colour reproduction during the process of manufacturing a restoration, and that the chosen physical shade tab is considered the objective colour of the final restoration [44], establishing a universal gingival colour model that can be used for reference is necessary. It is of fundamental importance to have in place a standardised gingival shade guide that is well-designed in mathematical terms, takes into account the gingival acceptability/perceptibility thresholds, and is able to satisfactorily cover the natural gingival colour space.…”

“…The 'gold standard' is the Vita Classical guide, which serves as an international reference for dental colour, increasing the efficiency of communication between dentistry professionals. The validity and accuracy of shade guides are vital [40][41][42][43][44], both for dental restorations, restoring gingival defects, and deficient edentulous sites [45][46][47][48][49]; however, gingival shade guides and their physical shade tabs are few in number and specific to each manufacturer [50,51]. No 'gold standard' exists [52,53], which prevents the development of a shared language on gingival colour.…”