Color in fixed prosthodontics

• a low value is closer to black and a high value is closer to white

The additive color system:

• the primary colors of this system: red, green, & blue
• mixing of the 3 primary colors in this system gives white
• the secondary colors of this system: magenta or violet (red + blue)
• yellow (red + green)
• cyan (blue + green)
• Complimentary colors: the addition of a primary and secondary color gives white

The subtractive color system:

• the primary colors of this system: cyan, magenta, & yellow
• mixing of the 3 subtractive colors in this system gives black
• the secondary colors of this system: red, green, & blue

• here, insert orange to replace cyan
• the primary colors in this system are red, green, blue, & yellow
• The complimentary colors of the modified subtractive color system wheel:
• red----green
• orange----blue
• yellow----violet
• transparent: allows the transmission of all light
• translucent: allows transmission of light, but one cannot see through the object
• spectral reflectance: reflection without diffusion (surface reflection of light without diffusion.
• Metamerism: a phenomenon that occurs when 2 objects match in color under certain lighting conditions, but do not match under others. This occurs when objects have different spectral curves
• rods of retina: responsible for interpreting brightness differences. Used for vision at low light levels.
• cones of retina: mediators of color vision
• the act of squinting reduces the light on the retina, activates the rods and discriminates value differences
• the easiest modification with color: raising the chroma (add yellow, brown, or red)
• yellow = vita B, brown = vita A, and red = vita D
• Hue shift: to move yellow toward orange, add pink
• Adding yellow decreases redness of an orange hue
• A more difficult modification: reducing the chroma---utilize this with the complimentary color: ex: yellow---add violet orange---add blue
• To reduce the value, add the complimentary color or brown
• A very difficult procedure: raising the value---yellow is the only color that will change the hue, increase chroma, & raise the value.
• To create apparent translucency, blue is the key hue

Category: Prosthodontics Notes