Coverage Error of Three Shade Guides to Vital Unrestored Maxillary Anterior Teeth in a Greek Population

Several studies have attempted to define the performance of most commercially available shade guides. The purpose of the present study was to compare the coverage errors of three commercial shade guides for a selected Greek population and to investigate whether there is a difference between the coverage errors of the three shade guides for different types of anterior teeth of the selected population. Adult participants with healthy maxillary anterior teeth were recruited for color assessment. Color coordinates were measured for central incisors, lateral incisors, and canines of 212 individuals. Tooth shades were measured at the middle third using the Spectroshade Micro spectrophotometer, and three shade guide systems (Ivoclar, Vitapan Classical, and 3D Master) were evaluated under standardized conditions for comparison. The coverage errors of Ivoclar and Vitapan classical shade guides were not significantly different from each other for all teeth and for the three tooth types separately. However, 3D Master shade guide exhibited significantly lower coverage errors for all teeth and for the three tooth types separately (p < 0.001). 3D Master performed better than the other two shade guides for shade matching with natural dentition in the selected population.