Color in Dentistry: Is 'Everything We Know' Really So?

Rade D. Paravina, DDS, MS, PhD

January 2008 Issue - Expires Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Inside Dentistry

Abstract

Esthetic restorations represent a significant and increasing portion of dental services and income. Closely related to the application of color science principles in clinical dentistry and optical properties of dental materials, work with color is a critical component of these procedures. This article addresses issues related to shade matching such as color education and training, color vision, shade-matching conditions, and dental shade guides. Properties of dental materials associated with color appearance are presented through three categories: color compatibility, color stability, and color interactions. Recommendations for achieving optimum color-matching results are suggested. Overall, the application of color science in clinical dentistry, improvements of dental shade guides and related restorative materials, and further standardization of color appearance in dentistry can enable better control of the esthetic outcome and improve esthetic success. New standards might eliminate dental materials exhibiting extreme inconsistencies with corresponding tissues, poor color stability, or severe batch variations.

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Disclosures:

The author reports no conflicts of interest associated with this work.

Queries for the author may be directed to justin.romano@broadcastmed.com.