Estimating costs for shade matching and shade corrections of fixed partial dentures for dental technicians in Germany: a pilot investigation.

Aims: To evaluate the additional operating expenses caused by shade matching by dental technicians in the dental practice and by color changes of fixed partial dentures.
Methods: A questionnaire was handed out to visitors of the 2010 ADT dental technician congress in Germany. Thirty-one completed questionnaires were evaluated.
Results: Mean costs caused by shade matching and shade correction per month were 1269$ (SD = 1278$; n = 25) and per unit of FPD 9.32$ (SD = 8.89$).
Conclusions: An improvement of shade matching, shade communication and reproduction should be made in order to minimize the considerable economic damage for dental laboratories.