Shade Selection

Author: Dr. Alison Vitelli, DMD

Esthetics are an essential part of our everyday world.  Dentistry is no exception!  We have transitioned into being able to access better and more esthetically pleasing materials that match natural tooth structure beautifully.  But it all depends on the accurate selection of the shade of the teeth, and our goal is to find the one that blends the most with the adjacent dentition.  Multiple systems are available to help get the shade that best matches your teeth. These are based on the three main properties of color: hue, value and chroma.  Hue is the actual color: red, blue, yellow, etc.  Value describes how light or dark the color is, where chroma shows the saturation or intensity of the color.  For a restoration shade to better match your teeth, good illumination and appropriate surrounding colors are required.  It is also important to mention, if you are considering whitening your teeth, it is advised to have it done before moving forward with a restoration.  Natural tooth structure has the ability to change shades whereas the filling or crown materials do not.  Lastly, we always look for your feedback while selecting the shade, so please feel free to let us know what do you think!