[The investigation of color selection of 4340 cases of ceramic restorations].
OBJECTIVE
To find color coordinates of Vita color tabs compare with Chinese natural teeth and summarize the skills of color matching.


METHODS
We studied 15,836 ceramic restorations of 4340 cases from 138 clinics in 18 provinces throughout China and compared their shade with that of the adjacent natural teeth using the Vita shade guide which has 16 standard tooth colors. Statistical analyses was made by comparing aptness of Chinese teeth with Vita shade.


RESULTS
We found that 64.47% of the restorations were matched by Vita A, 15.85% were matched by Vita B, and 19.68% were matched by Vita C and D. The arrangement of Vita 16 colors by using frequency was A2, A3, B2, A1, A3.5, C1, D2, D3, C2, B3, C3, B1, A4, D4, B4 and C4. The first five color matching tabs used most frequently covered 73.85% of the total, while the last four colors only covered 3.07%. It seemed that Vita color tabs could not match well with Chinese teeth. We found that the shade of natural teeth was closely related to sex. But there were no significant difference between tooth color and different areas.


CONCLUSIONS
Tooth color is closely related to sex. The color of ceramic crowns in men are darker than that in women. We have evidences that there are clear differences in color distribution between Chinese natural teeth and Vita shade guide.
Guo
H
H
Department of Stomatology, Hospital of Marine Army.
Wang
F
F
Feng
H
H
Gou
X
X
Li
K
K
Wu
T
T
Yao
C
C
D002681:China; D003124:Colorimetry; D003776:Dental Porcelain; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016876:Metal Ceramic Alloys; D017797:Prosthesis Coloring; D019228:Tooth Crown
D016876:Metal Ceramic Alloys; D003776:Dental Porcelain