A color shade analyzer for use in comparing and matching the color and shading of a dental prosthesis to that of a natural tooth. Light reflected from selected areas of a prosthesis or tooth is diffracted into its color spectrum and the intensity of each of any number of the component colors in the spectrum is discretely measured by electronic measuring apparatus and recorded for later comparison or matching. The reflected light color spectrum can also be continuously swept by the electronic measuring apparatus to provide an output waveform whose shape is characteristic of the color shading of the area of the tooth or prosthesis under examination.
