Influence of Curing Light Type and Staining Medium on the Discoloring Stability of Dental Restorative Composite

Discoloration kinetics of 4 commercial nano-filled resin composites polymerized with LED and QTH source types in 4 different staining media held at 37°C are investigated. Quartz Tungsten Halogen (QTH) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) were used. Dental composites color change was monitored with a digital spectrophotometer at one, two and four weeks for quantitative comparison. The kinetics and intensities of the color change in accelerated aging tests in staining media were monitored and discussed. Discoloring followed diffusive driven kinetics. The four composites polymerized with QTH light showed higher differences in color change intensities compared to LED cured ones. All the QTH cured samples have shown significant higher variations of color changes intensities compared to LED samples (p<0.05). LED cured composite showed comparatively more stable initial shade persistence than QTH cured ones, which may be explained in terms of higher level of polymerization and surface hardness reached by the LED light cure resinous composite matrix.