1. A method for obtaining a color mapping for a dental object, the method executed at least in part by a executed at least in part by a control logic processor, comprising: directing illumination toward the dental object over at least a first, a second, and a third wavelength band, one wavelength band at a time; capturing, on an imaging array, an image of the dental object at each illumination wavelength band to form a set of images of the dental object; for each of a plurality of pixels in the captured set of images: (i) obtaining an image data value for the pixel corresponding to each of the at least first, second, and third wavelength bands; and (ii) calculating a plurality of interpolated image data values proportional to the spectral reflectance of the dental object, according to the obtained image data values and according to image data values obtained from a reference object at the at least first, second, and third wavelength bands; obtaining spectral distribution data for a viewing illuminant; reconstructing the visual color of the dental object according to the calculated interpolated image data values and the obtained spectral distribution of the viewing illuminant; and storing at least the reconstructed visual color as data in a computer-accessible memory.