Do you have crowns that do not match your natural teeth?
Dental offices, in the past, have had problems matching the shade of a patient's crown to their natural teeth due to the common use of a matching system that is over 75 years old. Most offices still used this outdated method. In the old method, the dentist or assistant holds up a shade guide, which is a table of "typical" tooth colors and tries to match your teeth to an already existing template.
Many variables could affect the ultimate shade of the crown when using the old shading method:
1. The eyes of the dentist or assistant.
2. The lighting in the dental operatory.
3. The lighting in the laboratory.
4. The patient's tooth might not match one of the shading chips.
5. There could be variations in the patients tooth where one section of the tooth is one color and another area is a different color.
New Technology
New technology is available at our office that will perfectly match your new crown to your natural teeth and your existing crowns. With use of a new system, ShadeVision, a computer shading system by X-rite, your tooth color is read by a hand held scanner and the variations in the color is scanned into the computer. This information is then emailed to the laboratory. The lab has a computer program that will map out all of the variances in the color of your tooth and tell them how to put the porcelian on the crown. The result is a spectacular match that you will be proud to smile about.
