Shade Composite: A Comprehensive Guide (2023)

The basic science of shade is known to us till now. How to use vita shade guides is also known to us. But now also the perfect color matching in composition will be a challenge. Today my only motto is to tell you about basic principle by using which you can do a life-like composite restoration.

So today we will talk about shade selection, layering technique, cavity preparation, contouring, and polishing respectively.

If you will ask me that what is that thing if you know about that then you can post on face book so that the composite filling could be done.

Then my answer will be very simple. You should know about three things.

TOOTH STRUCTURE
COMPOSITE MATERIAL
TECHNIQUE

First of all let’s talk about tooth structure.

When we talk about perfect shade tooth then we are talking about optical properties. So tooth has color, opacity, transparency and properties of fluorescence and opalescence. We have talked about these previously.

And the important thing is in the tooth if you look at this picture carefully.

You will see different layers. Different color is present in the same tooth. You can’t tell a single color A or A2.

Now, in the second picture you can see surface texture is there in the tooth. Tooth is not completely flat. So, when light is flashed on the tooth then 3D effect comes.

Now, we know the properties of a tooth. Now, we know what we have to replicate. But we can’t do it till we don’t know about what effect will come using what or how much different types of material should be used.

So, we need to know our composite.

There are many composite materials in the market, and we all have only one question in our mind that which is the best material. According to my experience, I would say that shades could be matched from almost all the materials but you should only know the properties of your material.

The question “which material is to be used?” is not as important as the question “what is there in your composite?” is important.

You should know all about your composite’s nomenclature, shade, opacity, byes thickness and handling.

Nomenclature means that most of the composite makers have mostly three types of material. Means they have dentin like material, enamel like material and transparent or incisal likes material.

Enamel like material will replace enamel.

Dentin like material will replace dentin.

And, incisal like material will replace incisal edge.

But it is possible that composite manufacture does not call it enamel and dentin. So, you should know which is enamel and which is dentin.

Dentin like material is also called as dentin, opacious dentin, opapue. Companies called enamel as enamel, some called it as base and some call it as body. Incisal is called as incisal or translucent.

For ex – 3M 2350*T makes 4 types of material which have their different optical properties.

DENTIN
BODY
ENAMEL

Second important parameter is shade of composite. All the companies of composites follow the shades vita classical.

Earlier days I used to match shade from vita. Suppose my shade is A2 but after compositing A2, my shade does not match and the reason was every company has their different shades.

You can see in this picture that the entire syringes are of A3 composite but all have different colors.

And the solution for all these is that you will have to make a custom shade guide. You have to make a 2mm thick disc of 10mm diameter and then take a shade of 8mm.

Next is Opacity.

The problem which is there in the shade is also prevalent in opacity as we have seen before that enamel is 70% translucent and dentin is 52%. You can chose material by comparing these things that how much translucent material is of which company.

Opacity also changes with age. Young teeth are more translucent in comparison to old one. There is one more important aspect of controlling opacity and that is composite thickness.

Suppose, we have to do the restoration of 3mm thick composite and our shade is A2. Now, I can achieve this 3mm thickness from different ways.

2mm dentin 1mm enamel

1.5mm dentin 1.5mm enamel

1mm dentin 2mm enamel.

What do you think the final color will be same in all three? The answer will be “no”.

So, we need a general rule that how much thickness do we have to keep.

Dr. Jordi from Italy did an experiment and told us that ideally, we should keep only 0.5 mm of enamel layer.

So, our goal should be 0.5 mm enamel only. This is very tough. A useful instrument of style Italino comes for this work named as LM Arte Missma Instrument.

Next, handling is important in composite restoration.

Every company has different consistency and every practitioner wants different consistency. Some of them like flow able consistency and some like viscous.

Composite company also manufactures unfilled resign so that you can change the consistency if composite material.

The next important thing in composite restoration is technique and method.

Let’s know about the steps of taking shades of tooth.

At first, see the shade of vita classic and judge which shade is matching from the tooth.
Apply the shade of 3 composite on the button tooth and take photograph.
Convert the photograph into black and white and choose that matches the best.
Remember you don’t have to apply only one shade. To match 100% color shade, you have to apply these in layering. General or principle is that which will increase chroma on the go of cervical and value will increase the incisal will come.
So make a layering plan in your mind.

Now to show the clinical steps, I had taken these pictures from cuticle mastering composite artistry of Dr. Newton Fahl.

In this case, there are two central incisors and dr. had matched the shade and had done the putty index.
And Dr. Newton has made the plan of using 6 composites.
At first, make a palette shelf from enamel shade. You can appreciate translucency from this image.
Dentin shade has been applied in the image and designing dentin mamelrons.
Now, see the shape and extent of dentin in this image and if we decrease the size of dentin from incisal edge then the incisally tooth will look grey.
Translucent enamel is proximally applied on the incisal edge so that natural opalescence can come.
There is no chroma on incisal edge.
Now, A2 enamel is applied all over tooth so that fractured line could not be seen.
The thickness of enamel should be 0.5mm only.
Do final contouring.
Surface texture is very much needed if you want to mimic your tooth 100%.
Patient may become satisfied from this image but this restoration is flat. Now let’s do some carving.
Make the anatomy good by drawing it from pencil.
Carve the secondary anatomy by drawing it once again.
And at last final finishing and polishing.

Thank YOU………

SOLUTIONS FOR DENTIST

The basic science of shade is known to us till now. How to use vita shade guides is also known to us. But now also the perfect color matching in composition will be a challenge. Today my only motto is to tell you about basic principle by using which you can do a life-like composite restoration.

So today we will talk about shade selection, layering technique, cavity preparation, contouring, and polishing respectively.

If you will ask me that what is that thing if you know about that then you can post on face book so that the composite filling could be done.

Then my answer will be very simple. You should know about three things.

TOOTH STRUCTURE

COMPOSITE MATERIAL

TECHNIQUE

First of all let’s talk about tooth structure.

When we talk about perfect shade tooth then we are talking about optical properties. So tooth has color, opacity, transparency and properties of fluorescence and opalescence. We have talked about these previously.

And the important thing is in the tooth if you look at this picture carefully.

You will see different layers. Different color is present in the same tooth. You can’t tell a single color A or A2.

Now, in the second picture you can see surface texture is there in the tooth. Tooth is not completely flat. So, when light is flashed on the tooth then 3D effect comes.

Now, we know the properties of a tooth. Now, we know what we have to replicate. But we can’t do it till we don’t know about what effect will come using what or how much different types of material should be used.

So, we need to know our composite.

There are many composite materials in the market, and we all have only one question in our mind that which is the best material. According to my experience, I would say that shades could be matched from almost all the materials but you should only know the properties of your material.

The question “which material is to be used?” is not as important as the question “what is there in your composite?” is important.

You should know all about your composite’s nomenclature, shade, opacity, byes thickness and handling.

Nomenclature means that most of the composite makers have mostly three types of material. Means they have dentin like material, enamel like material and transparent or incisal likes material.

Enamel like material will replace enamel.

Dentin like material will replace dentin.

And, incisal like material will replace incisal edge.

But it is possible that composite manufacture does not call it enamel and dentin. So, you should know which is enamel and which is dentin.

Dentin like material is also called as dentin, opacious dentin, opapue. Companies called enamel as enamel, some called it as base and some call it as body. Incisal is called as incisal or translucent.

For ex – 3M 2350*T makes 4 types of material which have their different optical properties.

DENTIN

BODY

ENAMEL

Second important parameter is shade of composite. All the companies of composites follow the shades vita classical.

Earlier days I used to match shade from vita. Suppose my shade is A2 but after compositing A2, my shade does not match and the reason was every company has their different shades.

You can see in this picture that the entire syringes are of A3 composite but all have different colors.

And the solution for all these is that you will have to make a custom shade guide. You have to make a 2mm thick disc of 10mm diameter and then take a shade of 8mm.

Next is Opacity.

The problem which is there in the shade is also prevalent in opacity as we have seen before that enamel is 70% translucent and dentin is 52%. You can chose material by comparing these things that how much translucent material is of which company.

Opacity also changes with age. Young teeth are more translucent in comparison to old one. There is one more important aspect of controlling opacity and that is composite thickness.

Suppose, we have to do the restoration of 3mm thick composite and our shade is A2. Now, I can achieve this 3mm thickness from different ways.

2mm dentin 1mm enamel

1.5mm dentin 1.5mm enamel

1mm dentin 2mm enamel.

What do you think the final color will be same in all three? The answer will be “no”.

So, we need a general rule that how much thickness do we have to keep.

Dr. Jordi from Italy did an experiment and told us that ideally, we should keep only 0.5 mm of enamel layer.

So, our goal should be 0.5 mm enamel only. This is very tough. A useful instrument of style Italino comes for this work named as LM Arte Missma Instrument.

Next, handling is important in composite restoration.

Every company has different consistency and every practitioner wants different consistency. Some of them like flow able consistency and some like viscous.

Composite company also manufactures unfilled resign so that you can change the consistency if composite material.

The next important thing in composite restoration is technique and method.

Let’s know about the steps of taking shades of tooth.

At first, see the shade of vita classic and judge which shade is matching from the tooth.

Apply the shade of 3 composite on the button tooth and take photograph.

Convert the photograph into black and white and choose that matches the best.

Remember you don’t have to apply only one shade. To match 100% color shade, you have to apply these in layering. General or principle is that which will increase chroma on the go of cervical and value will increase the incisal will come.

So make a layering plan in your mind.

Now to show the clinical steps, I had taken these pictures from cuticle mastering composite artistry of Dr. Newton Fahl.

In this case, there are two central incisors and dr. had matched the shade and had done the putty index.

And Dr. Newton has made the plan of using 6 composites.

At first, make a palette shelf from enamel shade. You can appreciate translucency from this image.

Dentin shade has been applied in the image and designing dentin mamelrons.

Now, see the shape and extent of dentin in this image and if we decrease the size of dentin from incisal edge then the incisally tooth will look grey.

Translucent enamel is proximally applied on the incisal edge so that natural opalescence can come.

There is no chroma on incisal edge.

Now, A2 enamel is applied all over tooth so that fractured line could not be seen.

The thickness of enamel should be 0.5mm only.

Do final contouring.

Surface texture is very much needed if you want to mimic your tooth 100%.

Patient may become satisfied from this image but this restoration is flat. Now let’s do some carving.

Make the anatomy good by drawing it from pencil.

Carve the secondary anatomy by drawing it once again.

And at last final finishing and polishing.

Thank YOU………