In vivo reproducibility of tooth shade determination on intraoral scans compared to the dental spectrophotometric method.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess the reproducibility of the color analysis determination module of an intraoral scanner in comparison with spectrophotometric tooth color measurement concerning ΔE and d(0M1).

Materials and methods: The color of teeth (13-23) of 35 participants was electronically measured with the intraoral scanner CEREC Primescan AC compared to the spectrophotometer VITA Easyshade V with positioning splints. VITA classical A1-D4® served as a reference system.

Results: Concerning repeated measurements, both methods achieved comparable intra-method (very good) and inter-method (good) reproducibility in terms of ΔE and d(0M1) for statistics of agreement and reliability. Intra-method there were differences in favor of the spectrophotometer. For ΔE < 3.7 and d(0M1) < 2.7/< 3.7, both methods recorded excellent agreement. The standard error of measurement of the intraoral scanner was larger and the smallest detectable color difference was smaller for the spectrophotometer. The Bland-Altman plots showed a similar distribution.

Conclusion: The intra- and inter-method reproducibility of tooth color measurement with the intraoral scanner was comparable to the spectrophotometric method.

Clinical relevance: Tooth shade determination with intraoral scanners can be regarded as an alternative to spectrophotometric methods in clinical practice.

Trial registration: Deutsches Register klinischer Studien (DRKSID DRKS00025498, registration date 16.07.2021).