Shade Stability of Polymer-Infiltrated and Resin Nano Ceramics.

Background: The esthetics plays an increasingly significant role in today's dentistry.

Objective: The objective was to investigate the shade stability of a polymer-infiltrated and a resin nano ceramic in comparison to a conventional feldspar ceramic and an acrylate polymer.

Methods: 20 specimens of each of the materials, CAD-Temp (CT), Mark II (M), VITA Enamic (VE) and Lava Ultimate (LU), were prepared using the standard method. These were divided into groups (n=5) and placed in the following stain solutions: Distilled water, coffee, Coca-Cola and red wine for 14 days. The shade of each specimen was measured before and after using a spectrophotometer (n=5). The data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's test (p ≤ 0.05).

Results: The largest ΔE mean values were observed in CT by Coca-Cola (4.38 ± 0.41), in M by coffee (5.95 ± 0.62), in VE (6.02 ± 0.78) and LU (8.61 ± 0.30) by red wine. LU had the largest and strongest overall shade differences (total score: SSC=16.95) and CT the least (SSC=8.74). Overall shade differences of VE (SSC=12.03) and M (SSC=12.48) were statistically indistinguishable. After 14 days, only Coca-Cola caused clinically relevant shade differences in CT (ΔE > 2.7); this was also caused by coffee, Coca-Cola and red wine in M and coffee and red wine in VE and LU.

Conclusion: On average, VE showed fewer shade differences than LU. After 14 days of immersion, shade differences which exceeded the clinical acceptance threshold of ΔE=2.7 were shown by CT in Coca-Cola, by M in coffee, Coca-Cola and red wine, and by VE and LU in coffee and red wine.