Influence of personality on tooth shade selection

The harmonious shade matching of restorations with adjacent natural teeth is a prerequisite for a successful esthetic restoration. Color is a combined effect of the physical properties of an object, the light source, and the perception of the observer. The interpretation of color is influenced by both the physiological and psychological health of an individual. It is critical to understand the influence of an individual's psychological state on the shade selection procedure to achieve better shade matching and post-treatment patient counseling. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of personality on tooth shade selection capability.

Two porcelain fused to metal (PFM) discs were fabricated. A reference shade was determined using a spectrophotometer (Vita Easyshade, Vita). The personalities of volunteers were identified using a Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaire. The volunteers visually identified the shade of the two PFM discs under a controlled light source. The mean color difference was determined between the visual and the spectrophotometer values. The data thus obtained was statistically analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and post-hoc comparison tests to ascertain the difference between the groups.

The groups that performed better in tooth shade selection were ENTJ (2.923 ± 2.36), ISTJ (3.086 ± 2.56), ENFJ (3.197 ± 2.936), and ESTJ (3.431± 2.78). The groups INTP (9.383 ± 3.30), ISTP (9.133 ± 3.44), ISFP (8.737 ± 2.81), and INTJ (8.480 ± 3.35) showed poor tooth shade selection ability. The Kruskal- Wallis test showed lower mean rank for group ENTJ (89.75), followed by ISTJ (92.25), and ENFJ (94.80).

Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that there was a statistically significant difference between the different personalities with regard to tooth shade selection ability.