In dentistry, the Shade Guide is used to determine the color of a patient’s teeth. Teeth are not white, even if that is what the media are trying to make us believe. In most cases, the white smiles of celebrities have been retouched. It would look unnatural if an ordinary individual were to leave a doctor’s office with such a white smile.
Shade Guides can be helpful tools for the technician, and should be considered as advanced information. The dentist determines the most appropriate key for the patient’s teeth and sends the value to the technician, who then manufactures the prosthesis in the corresponding color.
However, this will never lead to a 100% satisfactory esthetic result. High quality work requires the technician to personally examine the patient, preferably at the location where the actual crown will be fabricated.
It is important for the ceramist to have information about the initial state of the mouth as well as facial and tooth form. It is helpful to visit the ceramist without makeup because that way he can determine the best color by using various lighting situations, such as daylight, neon light, or artificial light.
Obviously, such a denture will be quite expensive. A 100% esthetic result is one where not even the dentist can tell that he is looking at dentures.