Color mixture indicator device
First Claim
1. A dental colour mixture indicator device comprising a plurality of colour samples located in an array with each sample spaced apart from samples adjacent thereto to define an inter-sample space, with the colour of said samples being representative of colours of a predetermined colour system having a co-ordinate system aligned with said array wherein the colour of each of said samples corresponds to the colour of the corresponding location in said co-ordinate system, so that a patient'"'"'s tooth can be viewed through said inter-sample space and a desired dental colour intermediate a selected pair of said colour samples can be mixed for fabrication by a mixture of the colouring materials used to fabricate said selected pair.
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Abstract
The present invention discloses a set of dental color indicator devices and a method of selecting dental colors. Each indicator device has a number of color samples arranged in a regular array. Each of the samples corresponds to the color at a corresponding location in an identical array formed on one of a plurality of transverse parallel cuts through an elongate substantially elipsoid body which represents the possible range of dental colors when graphically represented on a color co-ordinate system, such as the CIELAB psycometric color system or the Munsell visual color system. The selected color is either the color of one of the samples or a mixture of the color of two adjacent samples.
46 Citations
12 Claims
- 1. A dental colour mixture indicator device comprising a plurality of colour samples located in an array with each sample spaced apart from samples adjacent thereto to define an inter-sample space, with the colour of said samples being representative of colours of a predetermined colour system having a co-ordinate system aligned with said array wherein the colour of each of said samples corresponds to the colour of the corresponding location in said co-ordinate system, so that a patient'"'"'s tooth can be viewed through said inter-sample space and a desired dental colour intermediate a selected pair of said colour samples can be mixed for fabrication by a mixture of the colouring materials used to fabricate said selected pair.
- 11. A method of selecting a dental colour from an elongate body of possible dental colours represented on a colour co-ordinate system, said body having a longitudinal axis, said method comprising the steps of notionally cutting said body transverse to said axis with a plurality of substantially parallel cuts, notionally locating a regular grid of lines on each of said cuts, said lines having intersections forming an array of locations, selecting for each cut a plurality of colours, each of said colours lying at a corresponding intersection location of the grid on said cut and selecting the desired shade of said dental colour by firstly selecting one of said cuts, and secondly selecting the desired shade to be either one of said selected colours for the selected cut or a colour mixture of two adjacent ones of said selected colours for the selected cut.
Specification