Are dental color measuring devices CIE compliant?

OBJECTIVES: This in vitro study evaluated the accordance of dental color measurement devices with a Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE)-compliant reference system, by comparing the CIE lightness, chroma, and hue (L*C*h°) color coordinates of ceramic samples.

METHODS: Four color measurement devices: Vita Easyshade® Advance (A); DeguDent Shadepilot™ (B); X-Rite® Shadevision (C); and Crystaleye Olympus (D), were compared with a CIE-compliant reference system by recording the L*C*h° color coordinates of ceramic samples matching the tooth colors of the Vita Linearguide 3D-Master®, under standardized test conditions. Differences between regression lines for the dental color measurement device data and regression lines for the CIE-compliant reference system data were evaluated.

RESULTS: All devices offered high intraclass correlation coefficients (0.9771- 0.9999) for the L*C*h° color coordinates. The regression lines of the L* and C* coordinates for device A were steeper than those of the CIE-compliant reference system; the regression lines for devices B, C, and D were nearly parallel to those of the reference system, but with an offset. The regression lines of the h° coordinates for all devices were almost parallel to those of the reference system, with slopes near 1. Excluding the L* and h° coordinate measurements of device A, the measurements with the devices exhibited deviations from the reference system that were greater than those expected by chance (P < 0.0002).

CONCLUSIONS: The dental color measurement devices assessed here offered excellent reproducibility, but showed significant deviations from the CIE-compliant reference system regarding the L*C*h° color coordinates.