Color Difference Variation Between Different Color Measuring Devices

Objectives: An attractive smile has been shown to tremendously impact the perception of appearance and personality attributes. In recent years, all-ceramic restorations have been heavily utilized to improve teeth defects and discolorations. The ability to identify teeth color and further reproduce the exact match in the restoration has been a challenging process. Color measuring devices are becoming very popular among practitioners to aid in clinical shade selection. The purpose of this study was to compare variations in color differences (DE) when using 2 color matching colorimeter devices, namely, Vita Easyshade (Vident), Minolta Chroma Meter CR-200b (Minolta), and Crystaleye spectrophotometer (Olympus). Methods: Forty pressed IPS Empress ceramic disks (15x0.5 mm) of two shades (T1 and O2) were luted to 40 composite disks (15x4.0 mm) of shades (A3 and C4) using yellow (Y) shade of Nexus (NX3) resin luting cement. Color measurement was done three times for every specimen using the color matching devices, which were configured with diffuse illumination/0-degree viewing geometry. The L* a* and b* color parameters were analyzed for dependence on the materials and the devices, and DE (CIEDE2000) color difference values between the devices were obtained. Results: For each of the L* a* and b* color parameter, a statistically significant interaction (P≤0.0001) was found between the devices tested and the composite substrate studied, e.g. for the O2 shade ceramic material, the mean value was:

Conclusion: There was a significant color difference (mean DE>5.6) between the color measuring devices. No significant differences were found between the materials or their interactions. This study is supported in part by Kerr Corp. Orange, CA, USA.