Abstract: A blank for the manufacture of artificial teeth, either replacement whole teeth or crowns, permits a tooth to be produced by machining from the blank which comprises a layered block of synthetic plastics materials, the layers being of predetermined varying color (hue), chroma, value and translucency to simulate the pulp, dentine and enamel layers in a real tooth, thereby providing an artificial tooth with the distribution and depth of color of a real tooth. The blank has a core portion including a reference point for machining purposes and the layers are applied over the core portion, their thicknesses and thickness distributions being predetermined so as to be able to obtain different tooth colors by selective removal from the layers.

Abstract: A method for the manufacture of artificial teeth, either replacement whole teeth or crowns, whereby a tooth is produced by machining from a layered block of synthetic plastics materials, the layers being of predetermined varying color (hue), chroma, value and translucency to simulate the pulp, dentine and enamel layers in a real tooth, thereby providing an artificial tooth with the distribution and depth of color of a real tooth. The process provides for varying the tooth color by milling the tooth from a different section of the layered block to vary the thicknesses of the layers, at least at the labial, mesial, distal and occlusal surfaces, so as to obtain a custom tooth matched very closely to a patient's real tooth color and pattern. The process permits the manufacture of an artificial tooth from materials with a hardness closely matching that of a real tooth to provide similar wear properties.