Color change of some aesthetic dental materials: Effect of immersion solutions and finishing of their surfaces

ObjectivesThe purpose of this research was to evaluate the color change of five aesthetic dental materials, before and after immersion in distilled water and blue food color solution for 7 and 21 days, and to study the effect of finishing the surfaces on any color change.MethodsDisc shaped samples of five types of light curing composite (A2) (n = 10 samples/composite) were prepared and all samples were light-cured with a Plasma Arc light cure unit for ten seconds. One side of each sample disc was finished and polished with a Super-Snap system all samples. After 24 h, color measurements of each sample were conducted using a digital spectrophotometer. Five sample discs from each composite group were immersed in 30 ml of food color solution for 7 and 21 days, while the remaining five sample discs were immersed in 30 ml of distilled water as a control. Color measurements were repeated for all samples at 7 and 21 days after immersion. The color changes were statistically analyzed using t-tests within the same group. A result was considered statistically significant at α = 0.05.ResultsThe color differences (ΔE) ranged from 0.4 to 4.66 and statistically significant differences on the finished and unfinished surfaces were observed after immersion in the food color solution for 7 days. No significant differences were found in any group after immersion in the food color solution for 21 days. The Tetric EvoCeram and Arabesk groups showed less color differences after 7 and 21 days than other composites.ConclusionFinished composite surfaces showed less coloration than unfinished surfaces after 7 days, but all surfaces (finished and unfinished) were highly colored for all composite types after 21 days.