Shade Selection

Shade selection must be customized for each individual, and sometimes individual teeth. It should be appropriate, natural (unless someone wants the whitest teeth possible), and polychromatic. The body of the tooth can be fairly uniform in color but the gingival third should be noticeably richer in chroma. Characterization should be somewhat incorporated into the mix whether subtle or profound. This can be in the form of surface anatomy, incisal edge anatomy, maverick stains, crazing lines or incisal translucency.

Translucency is a common characterization in the incisors and can vary in intensity. Usually it is broken up by a thin white line at the incisal tip of the tooth; this is called a :halo effect”.

Three terms – namely hue, chroma, and value are used in describing color or shade.

Hue has certain wave length and refers to what we normally consider as color or shade, i.e., red, blue, or yellow.

Chroma refers to the intensity or saturation of a color. It describes the different strengths or shades of the same color.

Value describes relative brightness. It deals in matters of dark and light and is influenced by the amount of grey it exhibits. Objects that are dark have less value and objects that are light or bright have high value.

Even though value can best be evaluated in black and white photographs, it is perhaps the most influential aspect of color selection.