Comparison of the Accuracy of Digital Dental Color Selection Devices

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of shade selection and matching for esthetic region crown restorations using newly developed digital shade matching techniques. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted under in vitro conditions. Ten different zirconium oxide crowns were fabricated with randomly selected colors and used as the target crowns. The test samples were randomly divided into four test groups: Group V, in which the visual shade matching was performed using the Vita 3D Master scale (control); Group OPT, in which the shade matching was performed by measuring the target tooth shade using a novel clinical colorimeter device; Group SS, in which the shade matching was performed by measuring the target tooth shade using a spectrophotometer; and Group IOS, in which the shade matching was performed by scanning the target crowns using intraoral scanning software. A total of 40 crowns were fabricated as test samples using the different shade selection techniques. The L, a*, and b* values of the test and target crowns were measured using a spectrophotometer. The color difference (ΔE) values were calculated using the CIEDE2000 (2:1:1) formula. The collected data underwent appropriate statistical analysis (α=.05). Results: For Groups V, OPT, SS, and IOS, the average ΔE test values were 2.27, 1.11, 1.73, and 3.03, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between these average ΔE values (P<.05). While there was no statistically significant difference between Groups S, V, and OPT, there was a statistically significant difference between the three groups and Group IOS. Conclusion: Shade matching techniques using visual methods, spectrophotometer, and Optishade were found to be more successful than shade matches made with the intraoral scanner. © 2025, Selcuk University. All rights reserved.