Dental Color-Matching Ability: Comparison between Visual Determination and Technology.

Background: The choice of the correct color is of paramount importance in esthetic dentistry; however, there is still no consensus on the best technique to determine it. The aim of the present study is to compare the accuracy of a recently introduced colorimeter in shade matching with human vision. In addition, possible variables affecting color-matching by human eye have been analysed.

Methods: 18 disc-shaped composite samples with identical size and shape were produced from a composite flow system (Enamel plus HriHF, Micerium): Nine were considered control samples (UD 0-UD 6), and nine were test samples with identical flow composite shade to the control ones. Parallelly, 70 individuals (dental students and dental field professionals) were individually instructed to sit in a dark room illuminated with D55 light and to perform visual shade matching between control and test discs. An error matrix containing ΔE between control and test discs was generated, containing four match-clusters depending on perceptibility and acceptability thresholds. The frequency and severity of errors were examined.

Results: The colorimeter achieved a 100% perfect matching, while individuals only achieved a 78%. A higher occurrence of mismatches was noted for intermediate composite shades without a statistically significant difference. No statistically significant differences were reported for age, sex, and experience. A statistically significant difference was present among the Optishade match and the visual determination.

Conclusions: The instrumental shade-matching evaluation proved to be significantly more reliable than the human visual system. Further research is needed to determine whether the same outcomes are achieved in a clinical setting directly on patients.