This study was conducted in order to assess whether the form of the shade guide affects in deciding the color of the teeth using the shade guide.

Eight shade light cured composite resins (Esthet-X, Dentsply, Milford, USA) were used in this study. Shade guides including the model of maxillary central incisors, teeth-form shade guide, doughnut form shade guide, and shade guide with perforated gray shield were prepared with eight shade composite resins and provided the codes randomly.

After arranging the models of teeth, 19 dentists working at the clinic of the Dentistry of Chonnam University Hospital and 65 students of college of dentistry, Chonnnam University selected the shade guides corresponding to the color of each tooth on the gray board under the D65 standard illuminant.

B1 shade showed highest accuracy of about 95% among all shade guides of 3 forms applied to the test and regardless of observer, tooth form shade guide showed the highest accuracy (p < 0.05), and the doughnut form showed the lowest accuracy (p < 0.05).

At the time of deciding on the color of the teeth using the shade guides as a result of above, the forms of the shade guides can affect the accuracy, and it suggests that the development of the diversified forms of shade guides, which may obtain more accurate results, is required.