The effect of experience on composite resin shade selection in comparison to a spectrophotometer

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare the shade matching ability of dentists with different experience levels in comparison to a spectrophotometer. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Participants were selected from the volunteer fourth grade students of Faculty of Dentistry, Ege University (n=100). A fifthyear undergraduate student, a research assistant with 2 years of experience and two professors of restorative dentistry with at least 10 years of experience were included in this study as observers. Ishihara color blindness test was applied to all observers before taking shades. After taking the shades with conventional method by using Vita Classical shade guide, the research assistant took the shades again with SpectroShade Micro device. Agreement on shade matches was evaluated by percentage and compared using Wilcoxon test (p0.05) and the correct match rate of the research assistant was superior to the others. Statistically significant differences were found between the fifth grade student’s shade assignments and the research assistant’s assignments as well as the device’s readings (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that shade matching is a learnable process. In order to do a correct shade match in complicated situations, dentists may refer to spectrophotometric devices.

Keywords

• Color
• spectrophotometer
• visual shade selection