eLAB – The Digital Solution to End the Nightmare of Tooth Shade Mismatch

If you’re a dentist or lab technician who has ever broken a sweat because a patient was dissatisfied with the mismatched shade of their restoration, you’re not alone. In fact, selecting the wrong tooth color is one of the most common reasons for remakes – costing time, money, and often causing tension between the clinic and the lab.

So, is there a solution? The answer is yes – eLAB.

Why is traditional shade matching outdated?

Let’s take a look at three major issues when using shade guides for color selection:

1. Limited shade range

Even if you use the classic Vita system, you’re only working with a few dozen basic shades – far too few to match the diversity of natural teeth. Worse, these shades are unevenly distributed, creating “black holes” between color intervals.

2. Inconsistent color perception

Experience, lighting, and individual perception – each dentist may see a shade differently. One A3 tab, many interpretations. Sometimes even you may see it one way today and another tomorrow.

3. No industry standard

There’s no international standard defining what A3 truly is. Each ceramic manufacturer can produce their own version of “A3” – a fact demonstrated by photographs under D50 lighting showing how different each interpretation can be.

The CIELAB graph bellow shows the comparison between a large population of natural tooth colors (n=3787) with standard shading system showing that the range of available colours in the shade guides is inadequate and the colour samples are not logically distributed. This results in a considerable coverage error making it virtually impossible to pick the right shade most of the times because it simply isn’t there.

So, what is eLAB?

eLAB is a digital tooth shade matching system that utilizes photography equipment you likely already have: a DSLR or mirrorless camera (Canon, Nikon), a macro lens, and a ring or lateral flash.

A few additional key tools:

• polar_eyes filter – a polarizing filter for your flash
• white_balance gray card – for accurate color calibration

With these tools, your camera becomes a precise dental color measuring system, allowing you to take RAW photos of real teeth in standardized conditions – then send them to the lab for analysis and personalized shade recipes.

What does a lab need to use eLAB?

In addition to the equipment listed above, the lab will need:

• The eLAB_prime software (licensed annually) to:
  • Import and process RAW files from the clinic
  • Create patient records
  • Generate personalized shade mixing formulas

Which materials are supported by eLAB?

Nearly all popular ceramic systems today are supported:

All-ceramic systems:

• IPS e.max Ceram
• GC LiSi
• Noritake CZR
• Vita VM9
• Dentsply Sirona Celtra Ceram
• Willi Geller Creation Zi-CT
• Cendres Métaux Livento/Soprano

Metal-ceramic systems:

• Willi Geller Creation CC
• IPS Style Ceram

ZrO₂ framework materials:

• ZirkonZahn
• Dentsply Sirona Cercon
• Vita ZrO₂
• Noritake Katana
• IPS e.max ZirCAD
• Kulzer dima Mill Zirconia
• Aman Girrbach Zolid

Summary: Why choose eLAB?

• Accurate and reproducible: No more guessing when choosing shades
• Reduce remakes: Save time, effort, and cost
• Improve collaboration between dentist and lab: Clear, standardized communication
• Higher patient satisfaction: Restorations that meet aesthetic expectations