Repeatability of different mobile phone applications for color measurement in dentistry

Abstract

PurposeTo assess the repeatability of various color‐measuring mobile phone applications (MPAs) on dental materials in clinically relevant shades in 1‐mm thickness.Materials and MethodsA benchtop spectrophotometer was used as a reference instrument. Seven MPAs were used: Color Analysis, Color Analyzer—Iro Shirabe, Color Grab, and Colorimeter from Android, and Color Analyzer—Iro Shirabe, ColorMeter RGB, and Optishade from iOS. Color measurements were performed on 1‐mm thickness slices of CAD‐CAM materials, Vita Enamic shades 1M2, 2M2, 3M2, 4M2, and Vitablocs Mark II shades A1C, A2C, A3C, A4C (n = 10, for a total 80 specimens). The specimens were measured at three time periods, Day 0, Day 1, and Day 7, and three measurements were made on each day, to mimic short‐, medium‐, and long‐term repeatability. The color differences were analyzed using the CIEDE2000 formula, with the corresponding color difference (ΔE00), and mean color difference from the mean (MCDM00). One‐way ANOVA, Repeated measures ANOVA, and Paired sample t‐tests were used for statistical analysis.ResultsOptishade from iOS showed the lowest mean color difference among the MPAs (ΔE00 = 0.2 (SD 0.1), 0.3 (SD 0.2), and 0.2 (SD 0.1) at Day 0, 1, and 7, respectively, and ΔE00 = 0.5 (SD 0.3) for all three periods Days 0–1, 0–7, and 1–7). Material‐dependent variations in the repeatability of color measurements were observed.ConclusionThere was a statistically significant difference among color measurements using MPAs and a spectrophotometer, among the MPAs, and materials. The spectrophotometer exhibited the highest repeatability across the tested time periods. The iOS Optishade showed the highest repeatability among the MPAs.