Teeth Shade Guide: How Whitening Shades Are Ordered

Shade codes such as A1, A2 or B1 come from the VITA Classical shade guide, a set of 16 tabs that dentists hold next to your teeth to describe their color. The letter is the hue family. According to the dentalcare.com continuing education course on this guide, A tabs have a reddish-brown hue, B tabs a reddish-yellow hue, C tabs a grayish hue and D tabs a reddish-gray hue.

The number marks a gradation of chroma, or color intensity, within that letter family. In the B family, for example, the course describes four gradations: B1, B2, B3 and B4. The A family also includes an in-between tab, A3.5. Within a family, a higher number is a stronger gradation of the same hue, but the numbers alone do not tell you how a B tab compares with an A tab. For that you need the value order.

Value is how light or dark a shade looks, regardless of its hue. The dentalcare.com course lists the 16 tabs in order of increasing darkness, and a value-ordered guide like this is often used to describe color change during whitening. The position of a code in this list is what the tool uses to count steps between two shades.

Notice that the order mixes the families. B1 is the lightest tab, yet C1 sits in sixth place, behind A2, and D4 comes before A3. That is why going from A3 to A2 is four places lighter in this order, not one, even though the numbers differ by one.

• Lightest group: B1 (1), A1 (2), B2 (3), D2 (4).
• Light to middle: A2 (5), C1 (6), C2 (7), D4 (8).
• Middle to dark: A3 (9), D3 (10), B3 (11), A3.5 (12).
• Darkest group: B4 (13), C3 (14), A4 (15), C4 (16).

Counting steps is a handy way to talk about a change, but the steps are not equal. A study published through James Cook University measured the Vitapan Classical guide and the Vita Bleachedguide 3D-Master with a spectrophotometer. It found that the manufacturer's value order for the classical guide is flawed and that the distances between each step vary greatly in value and color, while the Bleachedguide's steps were more evenly distributed.

The authors recommended the Bleachedguide 3D-Master or an electronic color-measuring device for clinical studies. For you, the practical point is simple: two shades three steps apart in this tool may look closer or further apart in real life than another pair three steps apart. Use the number to understand what your dentist said, not to predict a result.

A shade match is done in the chair with physical tabs next to your real teeth. The dentalcare.com course describes choosing the closest hue family first, then the chroma within that family, and then checking value using tabs arranged in order of darkness. For value, it suggests standing slightly away from the chair and squinting, and notes that black-and-white images may be used to check the value chosen.

The course also advises resetting the eyes by looking at a neutral gray surface if the process takes longer than 5–7 seconds. A phone or computer screen adds its own brightness, color settings and lighting, so the swatches in this tool are an illustrative ramp, not reproductions of real tabs. Never pick a shade, or judge your own teeth, from a screen.

MouthHealthy (ADA) describes four whitening options: stain removal toothpastes, in-office bleaching (also called chairside bleaching, which usually requires one visit), at-home bleaching with a custom-made tray from your dentist, and over-the-counter bleaching products. Stain removal toothpastes do not change the color of teeth, because they can only remove stains on the surface.

How well teeth respond depends on the type of discoloration. The ADA says yellow teeth will probably bleach well, brown teeth may not respond as well, and teeth with gray tones may not bleach at all. Whitening will not work on caps, veneers, crowns or fillings, which matters if you plan to match new dental work to your natural teeth. Some people get tooth sensitivity, which in most cases is temporary. The ADA advises talking to your dentist before you start.