Assessing the shade matching accuracy among dental students through visual and instrumental methods.

Objectives: To evaluate the shade selection accuracy of male dental students according to the three dimensions of color: value, hue, and chroma, using visual and instrumental shade selection methods under different lighting conditions.

Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was instigated amongst 70 male 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th years BDS students of the Dental Clinics Complex at King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia for a duration of two months. First, the principal investigator determined the shade of tooth 11 and 46 on patient utilizing the spectrophotometer after calibration. In the next step, students were asked to select the shade of same tooth 11 and 46 using VITA 3D-Master shade guide under clinic lightening condition and corrected light. The characteristics of the color such as hue, chroma and value were recorded. The Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to find the significant difference in shade selection between visual and instrumental methods with respect to academic years.

Results: The mean of the value of instrumental shade selection of tooth # 46 was slightly higher among 4^th year students (4.41±0.73), than that of 5^th year (3.72±1.02), and 6^th year students (3.83±0.83), with a statistically significant difference among them (p= 0.024), indicating 6^th year students selected darker shades. Additionally, a statistically significant relationship was noticed among 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th year students with respect to the means of the chroma of 2.18 ±1.29, 2.92±1.11, and 3.13±1.10, respectively (p= 0.025).

Conclusion: The selection of posterior teeth shades was notably influenced by academic years, employing both instrumental and visual methods, while considering color parameters.