Statement of the Problem. Matching anterior all-ceramic restoration shade to adjacent natural teeth or all-ceramic restoration is a challenging mission for both clinician and dental technician, especially when cemented to natural teeth and/or implant-supported abutments with different stump shades.
Aim. The effects of background and cement shades were assessed on color after cementation to high-translucent lithium-disilicate glass-ceramic (HT-LDGC).
Material and Methods. Sixty HT-LDGC specimens were sectioned with a standard thickness of 1.4 ± 0.2 mm. Background specimens were fabricated using four background groups (Zirconia, Lava Ultimate (shade A2), LuxaCore (shades light opaque (LO), and A3)). These were cemented with three shades of dual-cure self -adhesive resin cement (clear, white, and yellow). The 3 coordinates of the CIELAB system were measured using a spectrophotometer (Vita Easyshade Advance) at baseline for the ceramic alone and after cementation. Color difference (∆E00) values were calculated for each sample with the baseline measurement as control. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyze the effect of the background and cement shade on the color difference at a significance level of 0.05.
Results. Two-way ANOVA revealed a significant effect of the background, cement shade, and their interaction on the color difference. The reported ∆E00 values ranged from 1.6 to 9.1. Most of the groups showed ∆E00 values higher than the clinically acceptable level (∆E00 >2.25). Only two groups of the combination of LO background and clear cement and combination of zirconia background and yellow cement showed means ∆E00 values within the clinically acceptable level (1.3 < ∆E00 ≤ 2.25).
Conclusion. It seems that matching all-ceramic HT-LDGC restorations with different background colors is a difficult task, especially when using HT ceramic. Varying the cement shade did not help in decreasing the color difference between the different background colors to a clinically acceptable level.
