Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining the color of an object which is transparent, diffusing, and absorbent, by illuminating an area of the object by means of a diffuse light flux that is substantially uniform and isotropic, by picking up the light backscattered by a small fraction of the illuminated area of the object by means of an optical system that comprises achromatic doublets and both infrared and ultraviolet filters, together with a diaphragm, and spectrally analyzing said light by means of interference filters and photodetectors. The invention is particularly suitable for determining the color of teeth in the mouth.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and to apparatus for determining the color of a translucent object such as a tooth by measuring the reflectance of said object at wavelengths corresponding essentially to sensitivity maxima of the human eye to hue and to saturation, by calculating the luminance of white included in the luminance of the object illuminated by a determined standard illuminant, by calculating a saturation percentage for the color of the object as seen by the human eye, and by determining the pigmentations of said color relative to white.