Tooth Shade Guide: Thirty-Eight Steps, Measured Not Guessed

The way out starts with a number. Thirty-eight steps separate the most yellow tooth from the whitest on the NanoChroma™ scale, from S40 to S2. UpWhiten reads yours on an instrument before any gel is opened.

A box of strips has no reading at all. It cannot tell you where you started, so it cannot tell you when to stop.

How are tooth shades measured?

Tooth shades are measured two ways, and only one of them leaves you with a number. An instrument reads the colour off the tooth. A person holds a tab beside the tooth and picks whichever looks closest.

Across 6 pooled in-vivo studies, instrument readings were more accurate than visual matching, and spectrophotometers, digital cameras and smartphones all beat the eye.[1] The same review says matching by eye is subjective, and shifts with the light, the observer and the tooth itself.[1]

In the studio, NanoChroma™ reads your shade before any gel is opened and again at the end. You leave with a reading, where a tab leaves an opinion and a box of strips leaves a guess.

How do VITA classical and 3D-Master differ?

VITA classical and 3D-Master differ in what they order the tabs by. Classical sorts sixteen tabs into four letter families by hue, so two neighbouring tabs are not an even step apart. 3D-Master orders its tabs by lightness first, then chroma and hue.

What does a shade change mean?

A shade change is the distance between two readings, and it only means something when the same instrument took both. One trial ran three routes to the same six grades of whitening.[5] Strips needed nearly 32 treatment cycles, a dentist’s tray just over 7, and the in-office arm just over 3.[5]

Some changes do not hold. In one trial, both drugstore systems relapsed in colour.[7] You buy the next kit, and the one after that.

Why can photographs and readings disagree?

Photographs and readings disagree because a camera records the light in the room and the water in your teeth. Both move within the hour.

How many shades can whitening move?

Which whitening gives the most predictable shade result?

The most predictable result is the one read before anything starts. A box or a tray cannot know where your teeth begin, so its promise is the same for everyone.

How to get your shade read

The old way matches your shade by eye, quotes after a paid exam, and charges again for every extra tray or session. Predictive Whitening™ reads first and sets your target against that number.

What reads your shade, route by route

Three routes to a whiter tooth, compared on what reads the shade and how fine the ruler is.

Route	What reads the shade	How fine the ruler is	More sessions
Predictive Whitening™.	NanoChroma™ reads it before any gel, and again after.	Thirty-eight steps on the NanoChroma™ scale.	Inside the Ideal Shade Package.
A dentist's chair session.	Usually a shade guide, matched by eye.	Sixteen tabs in four letter groups on the classical guide.	Paid again.
Whitening strips or a drugstore kit.	Nothing is read. You judge it in the mirror.	No ruler at all.	Another box.

At UpWhiten, we serve 1,000+ clients.

1. Take the one-minute Smile Assessment.
2. Come in for the free Complimentary Shade Consultation, where NanoChroma™ reads your shade.
3. You see your exact price at the free scan, and the Ideal Shade Package covers every session until your ideal shade or your genetic limit.

Readings on real teeth are on before and after readings from finished courses, and every route on Teeth Whitening: Methods, Results and Safety.