The effect of experience and gender on the comparison of direct and indirect visual tooth shade matching

Visual tooth shade matching is the most common method that is applied in dental practice. Several factors such as method, clinical experience, and gender can affect the success of shade matching. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of experience and gender on the comparison of direct and indirect visual tooth shade matching. The present study included the teeth of 3 volunteers with different tooth colors. The three teeth color were evaluated by 87 examiners (42 males and 45 females) who were divided into 3 groups according to clinical experience; Undergraduate Preclinical Dental Students (UPDS), Undergraduate Clinical Dental Students (UCDS), and Postgraduate Dental Students from the Department of Prosthodontics (PDS). The shade matching observations were divided into two subgroups according to the method; direct shade matching (DSM) and indirect shade matching (ISM) groups. For ISM, photos were taken from three different volunteers by the digital camera under the special requirement of lightness and camera settings. Statistical analyzes of the data were performed by using Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, and Chi-Square tests. A statistically significant difference was observed between the PDS group and the other two groups in terms of clinical experience. There was no significant difference between gender groups. No significant difference was observed between indirect and direct methods according to success frequencies. However, there was a significant difference according to SMDS values between the two methods. It is concluded that clinical experience is an effective factor while gender is not an influential factor in the shade matching process. Digital images taken under standard lighting conditions may be a reliable alternative shade matching method.