How to Accurately Take a Patient’s Shade for Dental Restorations
Taking a patient’s shade is very much an art form and we want to help make this process as accurate and easy as possible.
- Take the shade before prepping the teeth – they become dehydrated with the mouth open
- Use color corrected lighting 5500 Kelvin and use a shade light – adDent Rite-Lite 2
- If the patient is bleaching, wait one week to take the shade – shade will relapse a little
- Please take photos with shade tabs at the same distance and angle as the teeth
- When taking the shade, do it within 10 seconds – your eyes become fatigued and need a break to recharge the cones and rods of your eyes – look at blue or gray. Eyes have 2 main photo receptors, Rods and Cones. We have around 120 million Rods and around 7 million Cones in our eyes. Rods focus on Value and Cones on Color (Hue and Chroma)
- When taking a shade, the most important thing is the Value – it represents, the optical brightness of the tooth – focus on the incisal, and middle 1/3 – look at incisal of tab to incisal of tooth – see photo 1
Shade Photo 1
* Next, focus on the Hue – the shade range of the tooth – like A shades or D shades – focus on the middle and gingival 1/3 of the tooth – have gingival of tab turned to incisal of tooth – see photo 2
Shade Photo 1
* Next, focus on the Hue – the shade range of the tooth – like A shades or D shades – focus on the middle and gingival 1/3 of the tooth – have gingival of tab turned to incisal of tooth – see phot
