Investigation on vermilion, gingiva, and tooth color of young Uygur and Han populations in Xinjiang, China

Abstract

This study examines oral tissue color in Uygur and Han Chinese populations. The color of oral tissues is of great significance in dental field. It remains uncertain whether there is any difference in the color of oral tissues between different nationalities or ethnicities. Little is known about the color of oral tissues in different Chinese populations. The study included 263 Uygur and Han students aged 18-22 years. The color of anterior teeth, vermilion, and attached gingiva in the subjects was measured by spectrophotometry and expressed through the CIELCh system. The t test and ANOVA was used to analyze color difference between groups. Distribution ranges for L à ab (lightness), C à ab (chroma) and h à ab (hue angle) of anterior teeth, vermilion, and attached gingiva in these two ethnicities were obtained. Significant differences in color of oral tissues between Uygur and Han Ethnicities were found out. The Uygur and Han populations have similar spatial distribution ranges for the color of oral tissues, with slight differences that displayed strong regularities, suggesting that the color of oral tissues was associated with race. In addition, there was a trend of decreasing lightness (especially for maxillary anterior teeth), increasing chroma and redder hue from the center of teeth toward the sides in both ethnicities. There were differences in the color of teeth and attached gingiva between sexes in the Uygur and Han populations. The color of the upper vermilion differed significantly from that of the lower vermilion.

Gingival shade guides: Colorimetric and spectral modeling

“…The color of human gingiva has been evaluated using the visual method and different color measuring instruments, including colorimeters, spectrophotometers, and spectroradiometers . Recently, a comprehensive report on color range and color distribution of healthy human gingiva included data for age, gender and ethnicity, and varied cohorts and found that ethnicity and age had significant influence on the color characteristics of gingiva …”

“…The color of human gingiva has been evaluated using the visual method [1][2][3] and different color measuring instruments, including colorimeters, spectrophotometers, and spectroradiometers. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Recently, a comprehensive report on color range and color distribution of healthy human gingiva included data for age, gender and ethnicity, and varied cohorts and found that ethnicity and age had significant influence on the color characteristics of gingiva. 11 Limited information on the fundamental optical properties of human gingiva, its polychromatic nature, and the imperfections of existing gingival shade guides just add to the complexity of the topic.…”