Visual versus Colorimetric Data Analysis for Color Determination in Resin Veneers

The color of natural teeth depends on their capacity to modify the incident light (to change the wave length of incident light). Mainly two types of observation modes are used: diffuse illumination 0% and 45%; the angles represent incidence of illumination and observation on the surface of the object whose color is determined. The patients have been properly selected to receive direct resin veneers on their frontal maxillary incisors. Visually we observed and determined color directly using natural incident light between 10 am and 16 pm, the observer was positioned away from patient so the tooth to examine was at the level of observer’s eye (incidence angles were mainly similar). Vita Easy Shade colorimeter was used to establish the color of the restoration before and after it was performed. The Expanded Visual Rating Scale for Appearance Match (EVRSAM) supplied statistically comparable data as the literature; the comparison between visual and colorimetric data makes us suppose that visual color determination is a necessary but not sufficient tool for the esthetic success of any veneer restoration.