Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Impact of Common Fruit Juices and Toothbrushing on the Discoloration of Primary Teeth
Published on: March 27, 2026
Predicting tooth color from facial features and gender: results from a white elderly cohort
Alexander J Hassel1, Ina Nitschke, Jens Dreyhaupt
1Department of Prosthodontics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. alexander.hassel@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Statement Of Problem:
Clinicians providing edentulous patients with complete dentures are often confronted with the problem of not knowing the patient's natural tooth color. It would be valuable to be able to determine this from other facial features.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to assess the possibility of predicting tooth color in the elderly from hair and eye color, facial skin complexion, and gender.
Material And Methods:
The lightness (L*), chroma (C*), and hue (h*) of the color of 541 natural teeth were measured for a white study population (94 subjects, 75 to 77 years old, 55.3% male) by means of a single measurement with a clinically applicable spectrophotometer. Hair and eye color and facial skin complexion were recorded in categories. Mixed-effects regression models were calculated for each L*, C*, and h* value with hair and eye color, facial skin complexion, and gender as independent variables (alpha=.05).
Results:
Only gender and hair color in univariate analysis and, additionally, eye color in multivariate analysis, were significant predictors of tooth color. Higher L* values (lighter color) were associated with lighter eye color and with female gender. The C* value was lower (less saturated) for women. More yellow/green than yellow/red h* values were associated with hair colors other than black and with female gender. However, the parameter estimates of the variables were rather low.
Conclusions:
Determination of tooth color from hair and eye color and from gender in the white elderly was only partially possible.
Related Concept Videos
Changes in Skin Color: Clinical Perspectives
Albinism
Albinism is a genetic disorder that affects (completely or partially) the coloring of skin, hair, and eyes. The defect is primarily...
Assessment of Airway, Skin Color, and Use of Accessory Muscles
Introduction
The initial evaluation of a patient's respiratory system...
Teeth
In the bud stage, the tooth germ (an aggregation of cells) starts to form in the developing jawbone. During the cap stage, the tooth germ differentiates into enamel organ, dental papilla, and dental sac, which will later develop into the tooth's enamel, dentin and...
X-linked Traits
Pigmentation
Melanin occurs in two primary forms: eumelanin that provides black and brown pigment and pheomelanin that provides red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale...
Two-Way ANOVA
The two-way ANOVA analysis initially begins by stating the null hypothesis that there is an interaction effect between the two factors of a dataset. This effect can be visualized using line segments formed by joining the means for...

