title: Evaluating the accuracy of tooth color measurement by combining the Munsell color system and dental colorimeter.
abstract: As we pay increasing attention to dental aesthetics, tooth color matching has become an important part of daily dental practice. This aim of this study was to develop a method to enhance the accuracy of a tooth color matching machine. The Munsell color tabs in the range of natural human teeth were measured using a tooth color measuring machine (ShadeEye NCC). The machine's accuracy was analyzed using an analysis of variance test and a Tukey post-hoc test. When matching the Munsell color tabs with the ShadeEye NCC colorimeter, settings of Chroma greater than 6 and Value less than 4 showed unacceptable clinical results. When the CIELAB mode was used, the a* value (which represents the red-green axis in the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage color space) made no significant difference (p=0.84), the L* value (which represents the lightness) resulted in a negative correlation, and the b* value (which represents the yellow-blue axis) resulted in a positive correlation with ΔE. When the Munsell color tabs and the Vitapan were measured in the same mode and compared, the inaccuracies showed that the Vitapan was not a proper tool for evaluating the stability and accuracy of ShadeEye NCC. By knowing the limitations of the machine, we evaluated the data using the Munsell color tabs; shade beyond the acceptable range should be reevaluated using a visual shade matching method, or if measured by another machine, this shade range should be covered to obtain more accurate results.
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, Kaohsiung Medical University, 807 Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jiun-Yao
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Wen-Cheng
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ta-Ko
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jen-Chyan
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Po-Sung
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Jeng-Huey
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chun-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hung
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003116:Color; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017797:Prosthesis Coloring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D014070:Tooth / Q000502:physiology*