THE EFFECT OF EYE DOMINANCE IN COLOR PERCEPTION AMONG DENTAL STUDENTS WITH NORMAL COLOR VISION

Introduction: Various factors were reported to be responsible for influencing color perception during shade matching. These factors include lighting conditions and viewer's physiological variables. There is limited information regarding the effect of eye dominance in color perception in the dental literature. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of eye dominance on color perception among dental students in Alexandria University with normal color vision using Farnsworth- Munsell 100- hue test and the corresponding software. Materials and Methods: One hundred undergraduate dental students without congenital color deficiency were evaluated using Ishihara plates upon their voluntary participation. Out of these 100 participants, 43 were males and 57 were females. The dominant eye of each participant was determined using Miles test. Color perception evaluation was examined using Farnsworth – Munsell 100 hue test (FM 100 hue test). The data were tabulated and statistically analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (α=0.05). Results: Statistical tests showed significant difference between the dominant eye and non-dominant eye in male participants (P=.031) and no significant difference between the dominant eye and non-dominant eye in female participants (P=.691). Conclusions: The dominance of the eye had a significant effect on the color perception in male participants. Keywords: Color matching, eye dominance, FM 100 hue test. Running title: The effect of eye dominance on color perception.