Objective: To evaluate the accuracy and repeatability of intraoral instruments used for shade determination compared to visual shade selection (VSS).
Materials and methods: A total of 20 subjects and 10 observers, balanced by gender, participated in the study. Observers performed VSS of the upper right central incisor from each subject. Instrumental shade determination of the same teeth was performed using a spectrophotometer (Easyshade V) and intraoral scanners (CEREC Omnicam, Primescan, Trios 3 and Trios 4). Vita Classical shade nomenclature was used to record the shade designation for all instruments and VSS. The accuracy of the instruments was determined by comparing the instrument readings with the most frequent visual shade selected. The percentage of accuracy was obtained by comparing the number of agreements with the number of comparisons. The percentage of repeatability was obtained by comparing the number of repeated shades with the number of shade measurements in each group. Accuracy was compared using Cochran Q test followed by pairwise comparisons using multiple McNemar's tests with Bonferroni correction. Repeatability of the instruments was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha.
Results: Omnicam showed a significant lower accuracy than the other instruments (p < 0.05). No statistical difference on repeatability was found among the different instruments (p > 0.05). It was not found any statistical differences for VSS accuracy among the observers (p = 0.437) and between genders (p = 0.867).
Conclusion: Instrumental repeatability (≥75%) and similar accuracy between the best performed instruments (69%-77.5%) and the observers performance (65%-90%) supports the use of high-performance instruments for dental shade determination.
Clinical significance: Most instruments (Easyshade V, Primescan, Trios 3, and Trios 4) showed similar accuracy performance to observers in the VSS.
Keywords: intraoral scanners; shade selection; spectrophotometer.
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