Which instrument is used to determine the shade of the final restoration?

• A. Shade guide
• B. Acid etch
• C. Light cure
• D. Wedges

Answer: (A)

Matching tooth color with a standardized shade guide is how the shade of the final restoration is determined. A shade guide is a set of color tabs that represent the range of natural tooth shades. The clinician compares the tabs to the patient’s tooth under natural or standardized lighting, holding the guide parallel to the tooth and selecting the closest match. This helps ensure the restoration blends with adjacent teeth in terms of hue, value, and translucency. Other instruments serve different purposes: acid etch prepares enamel for bonding, light cure polymerizes resin, and wedges help position matrix bands during restoration. None of these are used for color matching.