This article will describe the various elements of color and how color is perceived physically and psychologically. It will also describe the various methods used to communicate color matching to the laboratory (for porcelain), as well as the other physical compositions that affect color perception. The artistic components will be described, as well as the scientific methods by which color can be manipulated to obtain clinically acceptable matches, utilizing both composite resins and porcelains. The applications are broad across direct and indirect restorations and include all porcelain materials as well as various composite resin systems. By breaking color components into hue, value, chroma, and translucency (contrast ratio), a common sense approach to describing a desired color match will be rationalized. Read More »