The aims of study were to compare visual method using white light box, intraoral scanner and
spectrophotometer in clinical tooth color measurement and to determine the reliability of tooth shade selection
among visual method using white light box, intraoral scanner and spectrophotometer. Forty maxillary right central
incisors and canines of 18 – 40 years old volunteers which no pathologic and restoration teeth were included in
this study. Each tooth shade was measured six times, twice for each method with at least one day apart. Tooth
color measurements were described in L* a* b*and tooth color difference (ΔE) according to CIELAB color system.
In this system ‘L’ is a lightness coordinate, ‘a’ is a redness-greenness coordinate and ‘b’ is a yellowness-blueness
coordinate. The Kruskal – Wallis statistic was used to verify the significant difference of average color difference (ΔE)
at P<0.05. Results indicated significance difference in L* a* b* among all three methods. The average color difference
(ΔE) of visual method were higher than the intraoral scanner method on both maxillary central incisor (8.05 versus
4.99) and canine (9.5 versus 4.95). Average reliability of visual method was 0.63 (range 0.56-0.69) in maxillary right
central incisor and 0.63 (range 0.61-0.53) in canine while average reliability of intraoral scanner method was 0.70
(range 0.60-0.76) in maxillary right central incisor and 0.82 (range 0.63-0.91) in canine. Average reliability of tooth
shade selection using spectrophotometer was highest at 0.87 (range 0.70-0.96) in maxillary right central incisor and
0.88 (range 0.76-0.95) in canine. In conclusion, average color difference (ΔE) from visual method is higher than
intraoral scanner. Tooth color measurement using spectrophotometer is the most reliable method followed by
intraoral scanner and visual method is the lowest.