Evaluation of visual and spectrophotometric shade analyses: a clinical comparison of 3758 teeth

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of visual and spectrophotometric tooth shade analysis. Two operators independently selected the best match of 3758 anterior teeth of 106 patients at 3 different dates, using the Chromascop-Complete shade guide. Additionally, tooth color was analyzed 3 consecutive times using a reflectance spectrophotometer. Spectrophotometry showed high agreement values (89.6%); both examiners agreed in 49.7% of the measurements. Visual assessment resulted in significantly darker ratings than spectrophotometry (P < .0005). However, a positive association was observed for both procedures (P = .548). Spectrophotometric shade determination seems to be significantly more reproducible than the visual procedure.