1. A method for determining a patient's tooth shade for replacement or restoration thereof, which comprises: generating at least a partial electronic image of a patient's tooth wherein the image includes color information representative of the patient's tooth shade; electronically storing color information representative of a plurality of tooth shades in the form of a set of reference templates produced in a layer arrangement and including at least one of layer thickness or material selection; and comparing the color information of the image with the stored tooth shade color information to identify reference templates that may be used to prepare a tooth replacement or restoration having a color that corresponds to the patient's tooth shade.