A shade protocol that survives the shipping box
Shade is the most common reason an aesthetic case is remade. The cause is rarely the ceramic — it is the record.
Photograph, do not describe
A written description like 'A2, slightly brighter' carries almost no information. A photograph of the shade tab next to the tooth, taken with a neutral grey card and the same light source, carries the value, the hue and the chroma in one image.
We ask for two photographs: one with the shade tab, one of the prepared stump. For anterior cases we add a facial photograph so the value can be judged in context.
Stump shade is separate
The stump shade decides how much opacity the restoration needs. A dark stump under a translucent ceramic produces a grey result no surface characterisation can fix. Send it as its own photograph, without the tab.
Agree the target before production
For full-mouth and veneer cases we send a digital wax-up with the proposed shade map before production. It takes a day and removes the most expensive kind of surprise.