Shade Matching: How Tooth Colour Is Measured and Reproduced
This page explains dental shade matching for anyone asking how a crown, veneer or filling is colour-matched to their teeth: value, chroma and hue, the VITA guides, metamerism, single-tooth matching, whitening and digital shade taking. Reviews often favour instruments over the eye but disagree on some devices, and neither VITA guide covers every natural tooth colour.
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Medical disclaimer: This page is for general information only. It does not replace an examination or treatment by a dentist.
This page is reviewed by Dr Ibraheem Ijaz, the practice's principal dentist and a General Dental Practitioner (GDC 301711). His qualifications are BDS, BSc (Hons), MSc (Leeds), PG Dip Implant Dentistry and PG Cert Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry.
What is dental shade matching?
Dental shade matching is choosing a colour for a crown, veneer, filling or bonding so it blends with the neighbouring natural teeth.
Shade is recorded as the nearest shade-guide tab, such as A2, or as numbers. In CIELAB, a 2010 review explains, L* is lightness, and a* and b* place a colour on red to green and yellow to blue axes.
How do the VITA shade guides work?
A shade guide is a series of tooth-coloured tabs held beside the teeth to find the closest match. VITA groups its 16 classical shades into A, reddish-brownish; B, reddish-yellowish; C, greyish; and D, reddish-grey. Its 29-tab 3D-Master guide works lightness first: one of five value groups, then chroma, then whether the tooth is more yellowish or reddish.
A 2025 photographic study of 8,153 untreated front teeth estimated 1,173 distinct colours; for 75% of the colours measured the nearest classical tab lay beyond the acceptability threshold (the colour difference half of observers would reject), and for 70% the nearest 3D-Master tab did. A 2022 study of 735 incisors found both guides' coverage errors above acceptability thresholds.
Studies differ on which guide works better for shade matching. In a 2009 study of 33 people, two clinicians agreed on the closest tab 30% of the time, and over 85% of the time on a shade among each one's three closest; the guides did not differ significantly on one colour-difference measure, though the 3D-Master guide narrowed the difference between their choices. In a 2020 study of 100 people with one observer, the classical guide agreed better with spectrophotometer readings, within that study's limits.
What are value, chroma and hue?
Value, chroma and hue are the three dimensions of colour in the Munsell system. A 2010 review defines them as lightness, saturation and colour family, and describes shade matching that chooses value first, then chroma, then hue.
In a 2016 laboratory study, 100 dental students matching four extracted incisors favoured tabs closer in chroma or hue over those closer in lightness.
What is metamerism, and why does lighting matter?
Metamerism is when two colours match under one light but not another, because they reflect light differently across the spectrum. It is one reason a colour match chosen under one light can look different under another.
Studies differ on metamerism's size. In a 2010 study of 49 teeth in 37 people, colour differences between teeth and matching 3D-Master tabs were often larger when calculated for incandescent and office light than for daylight, which the authors said may become perceptible or even unacceptable. In a 2024 laboratory study of 38 extracted teeth paired with zirconia crowns, the effect was weak and generally within clinical acceptability.
Light can change shade matching results. In a 2020 study of 100 people with one observer, results differed significantly between three light sources. In a 2014 viewing-booth study of 28 dental students and dentists matching shade tabs under two standard light sources, light made a significant difference only for the students and those with poor colour discrimination.
To ask about cosmetic dentistry, book online or call 0114 288 2121.
Why can a single front tooth be hard to match?
In shade matching, a single front tooth is judged against its natural neighbours, and a crown's colour depends on more than its surface. A dental crown covers the whole visible tooth, and the colour of the prepared tooth under it is often called the stump shade. In a 2019 laboratory study, substrate colour, ceramic thickness, translucency and simulated cement shade all changed lithium-disilicate premolar crown colour, cement least. In a 2020 study of 24 zirconia crowns made for 8 patients each needing one upper central incisor crown, the zirconia core's shade made no significant difference to the match, within its limits.
Translucency and surface detail are explained under what makes a smile look natural.
How does whitening affect shade matching?
NHS guidance notes that whitening lightens only natural teeth, so it does not lighten a crown, veneer or bonding. Where whitening is planned, a shade recorded before it ends may not match the whitened teeth.
Whitened colour also moves. In a 2010 trial of 92 people, 81 followed up, using trays with 10% or 16% carbamide peroxide, teeth were still lighter than at the start after 2 years, but colour had drifted back toward red and yellow since treatment ended. Separate pages cover how long teeth whitening lasts and when to whiten in a treatment plan.
What is digital shade taking, and how accurate is it?
Digital shade taking measures tooth colour with an instrument instead of the eye. A 2010 review of colour-matching instruments concluded that instrumental and visual shade matching complement each other.
Instruments are often more accurate than the eye, though not every device. A 2023 meta-analysis of seven in vivo studies with 255 patients, six of them pooled, found spectrophotometers, and cameras and a smartphone (one study) with polarising or light-correcting filters, gave smaller colour errors than shade guides, but intraoral scanners did no better. In the unpooled study, the 3D-Master guide beat both instruments tested; the classical guide did not. Instrument errors were perceptible in four studies, though acceptable in all. Heterogeneity was high except for spectrophotometers, the authors urged caution, and one experienced dentist did the visual matching in three studies, students in two.
A 2022 meta-analysis of seven laboratory and six clinical studies found smaller colour differences with computerised methods, though only digital photographs reduced them in subgroup analysis; spectrophotometers showed no advantage over tabs. Wrong shade choices were more frequent with tabs, and most clinical studies had a high risk of bias.
For intraoral scanners, a 2023 systematic review of 15 studies found them highly repeatable and better than visual matching, but variable in accuracy, with most studies advising a visual check, and ambient light or incorrect use may affect results. In a 2024 clinical study of 30 people, two scanners' accuracy for a full shade, checked against a spectrophotometer, was below 30%, which its authors judged not clinically satisfactory.
Where are shade planning and treatments explained?
At Deepcar Dental Care, cosmetic planning steps include shade taking under corrected lighting, set out under how we plan a smile. In cosmetic treatment, digital shade matching is used, and patients may visit the laboratory for shade taking where needed.
A porcelain veneer has its own treatment page. Dental composite materials are explained separately, and cosmetic treatment as a whole under cosmetic dentistry at Deepcar Dental Care.
Pages on the science of dental aesthetics are listed among the options in this section.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't my crown match my other teeth?
Natural teeth can change colour after a crown is fitted, and the crown was matched to them as they were then. NHS guidance says age, smoking and regular coffee, tea or red wine can stain or darken teeth. A crown matched to a shade guide may also have differed from the start: a guide records only the nearest tab.
What is a tooth colour chart?
In dentistry, a tooth colour chart is usually a shade guide: a series of tooth-coloured tabs held against the teeth. The VITA classical guide, which a 2010 review calls commonly used, has 16 shades in four hue groups, A to D.
What does a shade such as B1 mean?
B1 is a tab on the VITA classical guide. The letter is the hue group, which VITA describes as reddish-yellowish for B, and a 2010 review notes that higher numbers on that guide mean higher chroma. A shade name records the nearest tab, not the tooth's exact colour.
Why can tooth colour change during a dental appointment?
Teeth look lighter as they dry. In a 2013 UK randomised trial of 20 people, front teeth kept dry under rubber dam for 10 to 30 minutes became lighter, and colour had not fully returned 30 minutes later. A 2021 study of 113 people found perceptible changes after 2 minutes of drying and unacceptable ones after 6 to 8.
Does the background affect how tooth colour is judged?
It can change which differences people accept. In a 2021 screen study, 100 observers judged simulated incisor pairs on white, grey and black backgrounds. Observer groups did not differ in which differences they could see, but most groups were strictest on black, rejecting smaller differences; one group's acceptance was similar on all three.
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We look after patients from Deepcar, Stocksbridge and Oughtibridge, and from across north Sheffield, including Wadsley, Hillsborough and Fulwood. Many travel further, from Penistone, Barnsley and Rotherham. The practice is on the A6102 at 334 Manchester Road, and no referral is needed.
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