About 8% of men and roughly 0.4% of women of European background have red-green colour vision deficiency, according to a review of population surveys by Birch in the Journal of the Optical Society of America A (2012). If you are one of them and need a crown, veneer or tooth-coloured filling, the shade will still be chosen and checked by the dental team. What colour blindness changes is how easily you can judge the match yourself, and there are practical ways around that.
The match is made by the clinical team, not by your eyes
Shade selection is a clinical step. The dentist compares your teeth with reference tabs under suitable lighting, records the result, and passes it to whoever makes the restoration. None of that depends on how you see colour. Your own colour vision matters at a different point: when you are shown the result in a mirror or a photo and asked if you are happy with it. That is where a few adjustments help.
What goes into choosing a shade
Most shade matching starts with a shade guide, a fan of small tooth-shaped tabs graded in colour and brightness. The dentist holds likely tabs beside your tooth and narrows them down, ideally under daylight-balanced light, because warm room lighting and even the colour of your top can change how a tooth appears.
Colour is only part of it. Natural teeth are usually more translucent at the biting edge and slightly warmer near the gum, and brightness often matters more to the eye than the exact hue. A good match takes all of this into account. Photographs of the tooth with the chosen tab beside it are often taken too, because a photo can be looked at again later under the same conditions. Our guide to tooth shade matching covers the process in more detail.
Where colour vision deficiency makes a difference
Red-green deficiency affects how warm and cool tones are told apart, and those are exactly the subtle undertones that separate neighbouring shade tabs. A study by Poljak-Guberina and colleagues in the Journal of Dentistry (2011) tested 15 colour-deficient laypeople with a standard colour vision test and a shade tab matching task, and on the standard test two thirds of them had low colour discrimination. In practical terms, two tabs that look clearly different to the dentist may look almost the same to you.
That does not make the final restoration less accurate. It does mean that being asked whether a shade looks right in the chair may not give you much to go on, so it helps to tell the dentist early that you have a colour vision deficiency. Adapting a visit to how someone sees or hears is common; our guide to dental visits with a sensory impairment covers other examples.
Ways to stay involved in the decision
- Bring someone with you. A partner, friend or family member with typical colour vision can look at the tabs alongside you and describe what they see.
- Ask for photographs. Images taken under consistent lighting can be reviewed after the appointment, at your own pace and with your support person.
- Focus on what you can judge well. Brightness, shape and how the tooth blends at a normal talking distance are often easier to assess than undertone, and they affect how natural a smile looks.
- Ask how the shade will be checked. Knowing the steps the team uses to confirm the match can be reassuring when you cannot fully check it yourself.
Measuring devices can add an objective check
Some practices use a spectrophotometer or a similar digital device to measure tooth colour rather than relying only on the eye. A systematic review by Borse and Chaware in the Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society (2020) found that the spectrophotometer studied gave the most accurate and repeatable shade readings, followed by photographic methods, and stressed that training in shade selection still matters. If an objective measurement would reassure you, ask whether one is available.
Getting the shade to the people making the restoration
Crowns and veneers are usually made in a laboratory, so the shade has to be passed on to someone who may never see you. Written shade codes, photographs with tabs in view and digital scans travel with the case. At Lumi Dental, clinical photographs are taken in a dedicated photography room and the practice has an in-house lab, which makes it easier for the shade information to be shared directly. At no point does the process rely on your description of the colour.
Shade often comes up alongside other appearance questions, such as closing a gap between the front teeth or wanting a smile that looks natural in job interviews and professional photos.
Questions about shade and colour vision
Will my crown or veneer match less well because I am colour blind?
No. The dental team selects and checks the shade using reference tabs, controlled lighting and photographs, so the accuracy of the match does not depend on your colour vision.
Should I mention it to my dentist?
Yes. It helps the team decide how best to show you the options, for example by using photographs or involving someone you bring along.
Is red-green colour blindness more common in men?
Yes, much more. Birch's review put it at about 8% of men and 0.4% of women of European background, with lower rates reported in men of Chinese and Japanese background.
If you are planning a cosmetic restoration and would like to talk through how the shade will be chosen, see current deals or read more about composite bonding at Lumi Dental.
