Traditional dental shade tabs and digital tooth shade-matching devices serve different clinical needs. Compare the two approaches to select the right shade-matching solution for your restorative and cosmetic workflow.
Physical shade guides provide an immediate visual reference for chairside comparison and communication with patients and dental laboratories.
A digital dental shade-matching device can support fast, consistent measurement of natural tooth colour while reducing reliance on visual assessment alone.
Learn about traditional dental shade guides, digital tooth shade matching and choosing the right system for your clinical workflow.
A dental shade guide is a clinical reference used to compare, select and communicate natural tooth colour. Dentists and dental laboratories commonly use shade guides when planning crowns, veneers, bridges, composites and other aesthetic restorations.
VITA Classical A1–D4 organizes shades into the familiar A, B, C and D shade families. VITA 3D-MASTER uses a systematic approach based on value, chroma and hue. The best system depends on the restorative workflow and the shade system used by your dental laboratory.
A traditional shade guide uses physical shade tabs for visual comparison. A digital dental shade-matching device electronically measures natural tooth colour and displays the closest supported shade references. Digital measurement can support faster, more consistent shade communication, while visual shade tabs remain useful for clinical confirmation.
No. The Koungsun E220 is intended to measure natural tooth colour. Crowns, dentures, models, shade tabs and restorative materials are not intended measurement targets. The natural-tooth result can help the clinical and laboratory teams select and communicate an appropriate restorative shade.
The E220 displays matching results from the VITA Classical A1–D4 and VITA 3D-MASTER shade systems. You can view the Koungsun E220 digital dental shade guide here .
A bleached shade guide includes lighter tooth shades that may not be fully represented in a standard traditional shade range. It can be useful when documenting whitening results or selecting shades for patients with very light natural teeth.
VITA Classical and VITA 3D-MASTER are trademarks of VITA Zahnfabrik. Koungsun is not affiliated with VITA Zahnfabrik.
