Color Comparison Between Intraoral Scanner and Spectrophotometer Shade Matching: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective

This systematic review and meta-analysis compared the accuracy of intraoral scanners and spectrophotometers in determining tooth shade.

Materials and Methods

An electronic search of five databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, CENTRAL) was conducted on October 19, 2023. A total of 163 studies were identified from the databases, of which 23 articles were eligible for inclusion. In vivo and in vitro quasi-experimental studies were included. After data extraction, a quantitative analysis was performed to determine the accuracy of the intraoral scanner in subgroups using four outcomes: trueness and precision with different measurement locations. A random-effects model was used to pool effect sizes. The pooled proportion with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used for the effect size measure.

Results

Eleven articles were included in the meta-analysis. Trueness with the intraoral scanner was between 0.28 (CI: 0.09–0.60) and 0.38 (CI: 0.24–0.53). Repeatability was between 0.81 (CI: 0.64–0.91) and 0.85 (CI: 0.74–0.92). Trueness showed low, and precision had moderate certainty of evidence.

Conclusion

The trueness of shade matching with intraoral scanners is low compared to spectrophotometers, although the precision is considered high and is similar to spectrophotometers.

Clinical Significance

Shade determination with intraoral scanners is not recommended.