BULETINUL INSTITUTULUI POLITEHNIC DIN IAŞI

Bul. Inst. Polit. Iaşi, t. LVIII (LXII), f. 3, 2012 57
teeth, a inherent consistency among shade guides, and matching between shade
guides and the dental materials (eg. porcelains, resin composites or dentures).
Fig. 7 – Shade guide “VITAPAN 3D-MASTER”
(http://www.globaldentalsolutions.com/shadeguides.html).
Unfortunately, the currently available shade guides do not have all the
mentioned properties and not all shade guides are fabricated from the dental
materials to which they will be matched (O’Brien, 2008).
For the dental office and laboratory, shade matching is a very complex
process (Fig. 8).
Fig. 8 – Schematic representation of the shade-matching transmission after O’Brien.
It is necessary to respect some recommendations:
i) use the manufacturer shade guide for fabricating the dental restoration;
ii) remove the individual shade tab from the guide and hold it close to the
tooth for shade matching;
iii) respect the manufacturer's recommendations for preparing the surface
of the tooth for shade matching;
iv) match the surface texture of the dental restoration to that of the
remaining dentition as closely as possible;
v) choosing a neutral chromatic environment;
vi) the choice of color is always done at the beginning of the treatment
session;
vii) lighting conditions similar to daylight;
viii) remove lipstick and makeup from the face of the patients;
ix) patient mouth should be at the doctor eye level;
x) the choice of color, by comparison, must not exceed 5 seconds, to
avoid fatigue of the cone cells;