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Special Issues
November/December 2019
Volume 40, Issue 2

OMNICHROMA: Simplifying the Restorative Process

OMNICHROMA® (Tokuyama Dental America, tokuyama-us.com) is the first universal composite that matches every tooth shade, from A1 to D4, with a single shade of composite. With its groundbreaking shade-matching abilities, this innovative composite is the culmination of 35 years of research and development by the manufacturer.

OMNICHROMA's innovative technology utilizes structural color to match every tooth shade. Structural color occurs when different wavelengths of light are amplified or weakened by the structure of a material itself, expressing colors other than what the material may actually be. OMNICHROMA's uniform, 260-nm spherical fillers (Figure 1 and Figure 2) are the precise shape and size necessary to generate red-to-yellow structural color as ambient light passes through the composite; this is the same color range that comprises all human teeth as seen in the Munsell sphere (Figure 3).1 This red-to-yellow color combines with the reflected color of the patient's surrounding dentition, resulting in a precise match with no added dyes or pigments.

The use of OMNICHROMA can potentially offer clinicians significant savings in time and money. Currently in the dental industry, clinicians typically need to maintain inventory of several varieties of composite brands and shades in order to match every tooth in every patient. Often, different shades of composite have to be layered to produce a perfect match for a tooth. Rarely used composite shades are kept in inventory in the event that a patient may present with an uncommon tooth shade. Unfortunately, often times the bulk of these little-used composite shades go unused, expire, and are thrown out. OMNICHROMA allows clinicians to no longer maintain a comprehensive inventory of composites. Because this universal composite works with all tooth shades, incidental and rarely used shades do not need to be kept on hand, thus easing the burden of composite inventory maintenance.

OMNICHROMA also can potentially save clinicians time by reducing the need for shade selection. According to a recent survey, about 52% of doctors spend 30 to 60 seconds shade-matching in restorative procedures.2 Using 1 minute as an average and considering the usual number of restorations a clinician performs in a year, the amount of time saved can be significant. The use of OMNICHROMA can, in essence, streamline the restorative process.

Figure 4 and Figure 5 demonstrate color matching with a conventional composite. Note that the shade of the composite must match the shade of the tooth to produce a good match. Figure 6 and Figure 7 illustrate the use of OMNICHROMA. The material will match any shade of tooth by generating the color of the tooth itself, with no added dyes or pigments needed.

References

1. VITA tooth shade determination. Bad Säckingen, Germany: VITA Zahnfabrik; 2015:4.

2. Lively T. The new universal composite: one shade for every patient. Dental Products Report ebook. February 2019.

Fig 1. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of OMNICHROMA at 5,000X magnification. Note the uniformity of the spherical fillers.

Figure 1

Fig 2. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of OMNICHROMA at 20,000X magnification. Note the uniformity of the spherical fillers.

Figure 2

Fig 3. Munsell sphere.

Figure 3

Fig 4. An A1 shaded tooth restored with A1 shade composite offers an excellent color match (Fig 4). An A4 shaded tooth restored with A1 shade composite provides a poor color match (Fig 5).

Figure 4

Fig 5. An A1 shaded tooth restored with A1 shade composite offers an excellent color match (Fig 4). An A4 shaded tooth restored with A1 shade composite provides a poor color match (Fig 5).

Figure 5

Fig 6. OMNICHROMA provides an excellent color match with either an A1 shaded tooth (Fig 6) or an A4 shaded tooth (Fig 7).

Figure 6

Fig 7. OMNICHROMA provides an excellent color match with either an A1 shaded tooth (Fig 6) or an A4 shaded tooth (Fig 7).

Figure 7

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