Tooth Color and the VITA Shade Guide

The natural shade of human teeth is actually yellowish or grayish, not blindingly white as most people believe. This is why a smile with artificially white teeth often looks ridiculous and completely unnatural. When selecting, for example, filling material, it is very important to choose the right tone because the aesthetics of the patient’s smile depends on it. Natural aesthetics has always been, is, and will be at the peak of popularity and demand, which is why specialists at the “SA-NATA” clinic network always strive for the most natural and aesthetic smile results.

Tooth color has always been an indicator of quality and health. All teeth have their own shade: canines, for example, are always darker than incisors, and they are darker near the root than at the edge. Therefore, when selecting a shade, all factors should be considered, and ideally, the negative impact on enamel should be excluded to help prevent its staining in the future.

The color of a tooth depends not so much on the enamel itself, but on the quality of the dentin. The dentin, in turn, shows through the enamel, and this is how we perceive the color of our teeth. With age, the thickness of tooth enamel decreases, it becomes more transparent, and accordingly, the dentin becomes more visible.

It should also be noted that the surface of our tooth is far from smooth and even, which means that color and shade can be perceived quite differently under different lighting. The perception of tooth color can even be affected by skin tone and color. Have you noticed that people of African-American descent appear to have whiter and more expressive teeth? Based on this, the more tanned a person’s skin, the whiter their teeth appear.

According to worldwide research and experiments, it was concluded that teeth with yellowish shades respond best to whitening, while teeth with gray shades respond worst.

Another interesting fact: teeth that are slightly lighter than the patient’s eye whites look quite unnatural. Therefore, during prosthetics (selecting the color of the orthopedic structure), it is so important to rely not only on the patient’s wishes but also on the specialist’s artistic vision: considering skin tone, patient’s coloring, hair color, and so on.

For convenience, there is a special Vita color scale, which helps dentists solve the problem of choosing the optimal shade. This scale is presented in the form of a special plastic strip on which models of human teeth made of various materials are attached. This scale contains 16 different shades. The most effective scale for work is the Vita scale made from porcelain and ceramic materials.

The Vita Scale first became an internationally accepted standard for determining the color and shade of human tooth enamel in 1965. Its creation was based on numerous scientific studies on the distribution and perception of tooth color in space.

The Vita Scale was invented and developed by an independent German dental company Vita, which has existed since 1924. It has become a world-renowned expert in the field of determining and perceiving tooth color and shade. The Vita dental company was the first in the world to describe the colors of natural human teeth from a scientific perspective, document them, and implement them in the form of a special universally understandable scale.

This invention provides a unique opportunity to achieve highly aesthetic results in dental treatment.

When selecting a color, the specialist applies one or another shade to your dental row. This makes it easy to determine the required color. Below we will discuss in which situations this scale can be useful in dentistry and what shades it is divided into.

Vita Scale

According to the Vita scale, natural teeth can have only a few shades, designated by the following letters:

A – reddish-brown shades

B – reddish-yellow shades

C – gray shades

D – reddish-gray shades

Next to the letters are numbers from 1 to 4, indicating the intensity and saturation of the color: 1 – the brightest shade, 4 – the darkest. So if we’re talking about tooth color under the designation A1, it means the color has the lightest shade from the reddish-brown spectrum. The enamel shade under index A2 will be darker than the previous one. For example, color B2 would already correspond to the group of yellow enamel shades. The designation C1 is characterized by a more gray tooth shade, while D2 would indicate a reddish-gray range.

The following factors can affect color perception when comparing with the Vita scale:

• Office lighting
• Color and shade of walls in the room
• Patient’s clothing (if the clothing has predominantly light or bright shades, the teeth will be perceived as much whiter than if the patient were dressed in dark colors).
• Fatigue effect (the so-called “eye fatigue” effect in case of specialist fatigue, in which they cannot accurately assess the real color and shade of the patient’s teeth).
• Patient’s skin tone can also have an influence (for example, a tan).

The Vita Scale is used:

• For professional teeth cleaning with ultrasound and Air-flow: after removing plaque from the patient, the hygienist must ensure that they have restored the natural color of the crowns.
• For teeth whitening: the palette is needed by the therapist to determine how many tones the enamel needs to be whitened so that the result is as aesthetic as possible.
• For teeth restoration and filling: in the presence of chips, cracks, and other surface defects, it is important that the filling, crown, or micro-prosthesis is not visible on natural dental tissues.
• For prosthetics and manufacturing of orthopedic structures in the dental laboratory (manufacturing of veneers, crowns, inlays, prostheses, etc.).

The Vita scale “works” effectively and accurately under the following conditions of use:

• The process of determining tooth color must be carried out exclusively in daylight and lighting
• There should be no bright colors around: for example, bright lipstick on the patient’s lips or bright colors and elements in clothing
• The color choice decision should be made quickly, and it is also recommended to stick with your initial decision since eyes tend to get tired after 5-7 seconds.
• For accurate color and shade transmission, it is important to keep the scale in order and clean, as well as to disinfect it after each patient.

A professional specialist will help you determine and select the right shade. Trust the health and beauty of your smile only to qualified specialists. We invite you to a free consultation with a therapist and will be happy to introduce you to the Vita scale!