Beginner with a non-beginner question

[Belaflek73]

Hi everyone,

I'm a cosmetic restorative dentist and one of the most difficult things for us to do is a single tooth crown on an upper front tooth. It can be very difficult to match the shade of the adjacent front tooth and even slight deviations are very noticable. To help in shade matching I'd like to use photography to send pictures to the lab I use.

I have a Canon 50D and a macro lens. I usually take my pictures with corresponding shade tabs next to the tooth I want to match. I'm curious if anyone can tell me what sorts of settings/techniques I should use to get the most color accurate photos possible of the teeth I am photographing.

Thanks in advance!

 

[gsgary]

You could cause even more problems if you don't know how to colour manage, if your monitor is not calibrated and then to compound problems more will their monitor is not calibrated the colours could be way off

 

[astroNikon]

My dentist uses a coloring matching swatch set. Basically it's like a 50 paint color swatches on a keyring that he matches up with the tooth color.

I would assume, at some point, someone is going to have to select a dye color number. And using a picture to select that dye color number could lead to all sorts of color matching problems.

but then, I'm not a dentist

 

[Designer]

I think it is going to be quite tricky, if not impossible. The reason is the light variations present everywhere. When you take the pictures in your office, there is one (actually a blend of colors) light, probably the best light there is, but unless the lab is using the exact color of light it's going to be tough.

Maybe if you talked with the lab about what types of light they are using, and try to duplicate it, you might come very close. Then they will probably be looking at the pictures on a computer, which introduces yet another variable. Your computer should be calibrated the same as the lab's computer display and then things might be a little more synchronized.

Good luck!

 

[runnah]

Very difficult, so many variables. I like the swatch book idea.

 

[D-B-J]

Couldn't you use a grey card in each photo? So you could set the WB? That way you would at least have consistent WB.




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[KmH]

If there is mixed lighting color temperatures use of a WB card will only allow completely correcting for just 1 light color temperature.

 

[JoeW]

As others have said--very tricky!
First, the lighting you have when you take the shot will alter the color. Natural light from a window (and is it direct sunlight or clouded or is there a scrim or window shade)? Fluourescent lights (and if so, what grade)?
Second, even if you get the white balance down, we then have the color settings on your monitor which will alter what you see.

Best bet would be to either shoot next to a grey card or a swatch in the photo to help you calibrate.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

I would think that if you could get the patient's tooth and the swatch samples in the same picture then you could use the dropper to test which swatch is closest to the actual tooth color.

 

[bratkinson]

I've had 3 dentists in the last 40 years, each of which have had to color match teeth after I knocked out my front teeth in a snowmobile accident in early 1977. One replacement bridge and 2 dentures later, each of the dentists had a set of 'false teeth' (individual colored teeth) to match with.

As photographers know, the variances in lighting source can cause absolute nightmares trying to get the white balance correct. Less than two weeks ago, I was shooting a church event with blue lighting on the right, green lighting on the left, and overhead florescent lights about 20' up (temporary gymnasium use as an auditorium). Needless to say, simply panning the camera from left to right made dramatic WB color shifts in the results. For that reason, I strongly recommend you do NOT use a digital camera for color matching purposes.

One time, my dentist had to make a temporary repair when the porcelain 'front' of one of the bridge teeth broke off. Using the 'normal' tooth resin, apparently it changes colors as it sets (blue light special) so they had to estimate the color mixing formula. It was several years of having mismatched front teeth until the bridge was ultimately replaced. Although I have no dental experience other than way too many times in the 'hot seat', I suspect that under various lighting, porcelain, and even different compositions of resins all have a slightly different matching colors for the 'same color'. If that's true, then I'd recommend a color match set of 'fake teeth' (on a ring) of porcelain, and a different set for a particular resin, etc.

 

[The_Traveler]

I was a prosthodontist for a good many years and color matching a single anterior crown is virtually impossible without luck. Besidea the issue of metamerism, any artificial crown will look discernibly different from a natural tooth.

best bet is to have the lab man make the match.
(I had a lab in the office.)

 

[The_Traveler]

For those who are not dentists, which I assume is most of you, teeth are not one color. There is the color of the dentin which shines through the enamel. This color varies as the enamel wears and absorbs stain over the year. Then teeth get extrinsic stains from what people eat or smoke. Matching a single incisor against the one right next to it is an extraordinarily difficult task. In cases where extreme aesthetic value is an issue and there was a reason not to do a crown on the other central incisor, I would sometimes do a complete porcelain crown and use shaded cement to better match the other tooth.

Thanks be to fortune that I don't do that any more.

 

[vintagesnaps]

This would be a long shot but I think I've run across cameras that were for use in dentistry; I know there were cameras specifically for various medical uses - and from pictures I've seen they looked nothing like traditional SLRs. Finding a vintage camera for that purpose would still most likely be useable; of course film would not be the fastest way but many places will develop and scan the film. I've been using The Darkroom in San Clemente, they develop and scan usually w/in a day of receiving the film and it's online so you can access your photos.

I don't know if you've done much searching online yet to see what you can find that might meet your needs but certainly such things exist. If they made dental-whatever cameras in the past isn't there something comparable today? From a photography standpoint white isn't usually pure white, so I guess the challenge is the lighting and WB etc.

 

[The_Traveler]

There are clinical cameras for dentistry (or any other medical use) that range from almost simple P&S to through elaborate ring flash - 90 mm macro setups (I had a Lester Dyne setup myself) but the problem is ot the camera availability but the colors recorded.

 

[Belaflek73]

I understand what everyone is saying here, but if I were to try to take the most color accurate photo possible in theory how would I do that?

I use the color swatches but there are definite limitations to them.