PRODUCT:
VITA Linearguide 3D-Master^®

SOURCE:
Vident
Brea, Calif.
800-828-3839
vident.com

Dentists really seem to be in love with the VITA Classical Shade Guide, not that it is necessarily their fault. The VITA Classical is the shade guide that every dentist has used since day one, except for the few of us old guys who remember the Bioform^® shade guide (DENTSPLY; York, Pa.) that was a mile long. Despite VITA coming out with better shade guides, such as the Linearguide 3D-Master^® seen here, dentists still want to stay with the familiar, even if it might be more difficult to use. The Linearguide 3D-Master makes accurate shade taking simple, with two quick steps that are faster for me than the VITA Classical system. First, grab the portion with the six tabs and determine the closest value to the tooth to be matched. This is very straightforward and hard to get wrong. If the value number happens to be 3, take out set 3 of the hue/chroma tabs and pick the closest one. Here in the lab I can tell you most of the missed shades are due to incorrect values, and the Linearguide 3D-Master is a big step in the right direction for correcting that problem.