Abstract
Purpose: The ultimate appearance of all ceramic restorations is significantly influenced by color and translucency. The performance of the restoration is significantly influenced by flexural strength. This study's objective was to assess how various shading methods affected the color, translucency, and flexural strength of monolithic zirconia ceramic as it aged.
Materials and Methods: Thirty zirconia discs of a diameter 12mm and thickness 1mm were divided into two groups of 15 discs each according to the technique of shading, the first group was constructed from A2 pre-shaded zirconia while the second group was constructed from un-shaded zirconia that was shaded by immersion in A2 coloring liquid. Aging was done using acetic acid 4% for both groups. Color and translucency were measured using spectrophotometer before and after artificial aging. Flexural strength was measured using universal testing machine before and after aging. Data were collected, tabulated and statistically analyzed.
Results: Color change of both pre-shaded and liquid shaded zirconia were within the clinical acceptable range (1.7±0.3) and (1.9±0.3) respectively and there was no significant difference in translucency between both groups P value (0.253). Flexural strength increased from (921.9±73.3) before aging to (1025.1±178.5) after aging with pre-shaded zirconia while it decreased from (938.6±32.7) before aging to (899±54.5) after aging with liquid shaded zirconia but this difference was statistically non-significant.
Conclusion: The shading technique had no noticeable effect on colour, translucency, or flexural strength before or after ageing.
Keywords: Zirconia ceramic, shading techniques, Aging.