title: The oral pigmentation chart: a clinical adjunct for oral pigmentation in removable prostheses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Non-Caucasian patients exhibit different characteristics of oral pigmentation and may request that the acrylic resin parts of their dentures look natural, simulating the original mucosal color. Tooth loss, bone resorption, and lack of attached gingiva may, however, make it difficult to determine what the original pigmentation was like. The purpose of this investigation was to study the distribution in oral pigmentation around the natural dentition in non-Caucasians, in a preliminary effort to classify these variations into a chart of oral pigmentation, and to analyze its reproducibility.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the study, 106 dentate non-Caucasians were selected from two universities: ACTA (patient group) and UCLA (nonpatient group). A pigmentation scheme was devised on the basis of half of the participants, and the others were divided into categories by four observers independently. Cohen's kappa was then calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On the basis of information obtained from the ACTA participants, six categories of mucosal pigmentation were defined. The kappa statistics for the four observers varied from .58 to .79 for intraobserver agreement and from .15 to .55 for interobserver agreement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Oral Pigmentation Chart is a simple device that makes it possible to simulate oral pigmentation in the acrylic resin parts of removable dentures. The reproducibility appeared to be acceptable when clinician and dental technician were calibrated. Patients can be offered a choice of the kind of pigmentation geography they want in their removable prostheses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Function, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Caroline J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: de Krom
authors.forename: Marinus A J
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van Waas
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oosterveld
authors.forename: Arjen S F
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Koopmans
authors.forename: Niel R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Garrett
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D000328:Adult; D003779:Denture Design; D003832:Denture, Partial, Removable; D005260:Female; D005881:Gingiva / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D015588:Observer Variation; D010858:Pigmentation; D017797:Prosthesis Coloring; D044469:Racial Groups
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins