Relationship between tooth value and skin color in patients visiting Royal Medical Services clinics of Jordan

Abstract

BackgroundFacial and dental aesthetics are becoming of great concern for patients, especially for the younger generation. Tooth color matching and selection is considered a vital element in order to create an attractive beautiful smile. The importance of tooth color matching is to adjust tooth colors to obtain a good match with adjacent teeth and the skin. This is considered a challenge especially if adjacent teeth were lost or records of patients’ teeth color were not available.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine the relationship between skin complexion and tooth value in a Jordanian population.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 520 individuals who were randomly selected and belonging to different age groups, ranging from 15–65 years, with equal sex distribution. These patients visited the dental clinics at different Jordanian military hospitals. The study was carried out over a period of one year from 2015 to 2016. The randomly selected sample was examined by one researcher. Shade of the middle third of the labial surface of central incisor was determined visually using VITA tooth guide, 3D-MASTER shade guide. Tooth shades were divided into two categories according to their value. The skin complexion was identified using Fitzpatrick skin type test, and was categorized into two categories (fair and dark). Data were statistically analyzed using Epi Info version 6.ResultsA statistically significant tooth shade value difference was discovered among subjects of different skin color (p<0.0001). Individuals with dark skin tend to have lighter teeth, while individuals with light skin tend to have darker teeth. Out of the 304 participants that were with dark complexion 274 (90%) have light teeth, and only 30 (10%) were with dark teeth. Out of the 216 participants with light complexion 172 (80%) have dark teeth and only 44 (20%) have light teeth.ConclusionWithin the limitation of this study, there was an inverse relation between skin complexion and tooth value among a Jordanian population. Thus, considering the skin complexion when choosing tooth shades is helpful in achieving a pleasing good-looking smile, yet further investigations in this field must be carried out.

Visual and digital tooth shade selection methods, related effective factors and conditions, and their accuracy and precision: A literature review

“…Patients with fair skin are more prone to have teeth with low L* values, while those with dark skin are more likely to have teeth with high L*values. 76,77 The observer's shade matching ability impacts shade selection results. This ability may be affected by age, gender, experience, type of shade guide, training, color perception potentials, and diseases.…”

Shade and Texture Mapping on Teeth for Palaeoanthropological Reconstructions

“…Thus this correlates with studies of tooth colour are conducted in relevance to colour of skin, age or sex (Susanty et al, 2018). However results of similar studies can vary from one case to another and probably their consistency depends on different factors such as analysed population (Lagouvardos et al, 2012;Al-Nsour et al, 2018;Tancu et al, 2019). It is worth mentioning that soft tissue colourimetry is a matter of study in dentistry as well, and this can be a feature to consider in anthropological reconstruction in line with dental shade study results (Hyun et al, 2016).…”

“…Nevertheless, even under the right conditions, the traditional colour matching procedure preserves a certain degree of subjectivity as colour perception remains an individual feature (Shooriabi et al, 2016). Thus in recent decades a number of devices improving and facilitating shade matching in dentistry have been designed (Brewer et al, 2004;Al-Dwairi et al, 2014). Thus conventional spectrometers and spectrophotometers are a better match for digital reconstructions of teeth which represent our study material.…”

Tooth Shade Relationship with Age, Gender, and Skin Color in a Saudi Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…For the canines, B3 was most observed for the youngest two groups and A3.5 for the oldest two groups [11]. A study conducted in Jordan comparing tooth shade to skin color revealed that Jordanians have a light tooth value and that people with a dark skin complex have lighter teeth [12]. The skin color of an individual might help the prosthodontist in picking the artificial teeth shade in case of a complete denture [8].…”