Objectives: this study was aimed to assess any tooth color change resulting from dehydration due to rubber dam application and the required time for any change to recover to baseline.
Materials and methods: Ten Participants with intact maxillary central incisors were recruited. with age ranging from 20 to 55 years according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Patients were randomized. The spectrophotometer was used for evaluating tooth shade at A baseline, 10 min and 30 min. Further measurements were done at,40 min and 60 min during rehydration. Data was collected. For statistical analysis, ANOVA was used at the significance level P ≤ 0.05.
Results: Color change (ΔE): there was a statistically significant change in mean (ΔE) values (P-value <0.001, Effect size = 0.602). Pair-wise comparisons revealed that there was no statistically significant change in mean (ΔE) values from 10 to 30 minutes. From 30 to 40 minutes, there was a statistically significant decrease in mean (ΔE) value followed by non-statistically significant change from 40 to 60 minutes (A statistically significant decrease after rehydration).
Conclusions: There is an obvious change in teeth shade upon dehydration as clinically assessed by spectrophotometer. It is recommended by the clinicians to wait more than 60 min in order to properly assess color match, or to carry out the shade matching procedure on another dental visit. Dental shade matching procedures should be performed before the teeth exposure to dehydration to avoid shades mismatch that may not be satisfactory and would require modification or even remake of restorations.