Despite the fact that colour determination scales have already been available on the dental market for a long time, there have been always problems regarding the hues, shades and tones of the dentures teeth. For this reason H.A. Jakstat developed a "Toothguide Trainer" and a "Toothguide Training Box", which are based on the 3D-Master Toothguide. Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to determine, whether training of tooth shade differentiation with the " Toothguide Training Box" in comparison with visual training leads to a better recognition of tooth shades. Material and Methods: 178 students at the universities of Berlin, Duesseldorf and Muenster participated in the study. Colour blind students were excluded. After receiving the same lecture about the topic, the students were grouped in pairs and randomly dived in control and study group. After an initial test both groups trained tooth shade differentiation. The control group used visual training, the study group used the " Toothguide Training Box ". A final test was executed. The results of initial and final test in both groups were statistically evaluated. Results: In both groups only few false determination of tooth shades took place. The results of the control group decreased slightly in the final test with an average of - 1.0667 ( 99 % confidence interval: - 1.975; - 0.159 ). The study group showed a clearly higher score in their final test with an average of 2.2333 ( 99 % confidence interval: 1.440; 3.027 ). This difference between two groups was highly significant ( p<0.01 ). Conclusion: These results show that the "Tooth Guide Trainer" and the "Tooth Guide Training Box" offer an effective method for teaching and learning dental colour differentiation.

This study was supported by Vita Zahnfabrik, Bad Säckingen.

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