NTRODUCTION: Maxillofacial defects are located in a highly visible body area that is identified with one's identity. An aesthetic and comfortable maxillofacial prosthesis relieves many concerns of the patient and may improve quality of life. Silicone elastomers are more color stable than other materials used in maxillofacial prostheses thus many authors investigated the color stability of those materials under weathering conditions.
OBJECTIVES: This study evaluates the effects of two types of nano-oxides particles at different concentration on the color stability of pigmented silicone MDX4-4210 maxillofacial prosthetic elastomers after artificial aging.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: MDX4-4210 silicone elastomer specimens were fabricated. The control group was incorporated with intrinsic coloring agents, one of nanoparticles group was incorporated with intrinsic coloring agents and titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO2) at different concentration (2%, 2.5 and 3%), other nanoparticles group was incorporated with intrinsic coloring agents and aluminum oxide nanoparticles (AL2O3) at different concentration (2%, 2.5% and 3%). All specimens were exposed to sunlight, sweat and ultraviolet light for one months. Easy shade spectrophotometer was used to determine the CIELAB (L*a*b*) parameter before and after aging of each specimen, and the values were noted.
RESULTS: The majority of the color changes in all groups were above 3.3 ΔE* units, which indicates that they were visually observed color change. After one month aging period TiO2 group was more stable than Al2O3 regarding ultraviolet light. Regarding sweat TiO2 group showed more color alteration. Al2O3 group showed lower color alteration on exposure to sunlight.
CONCLUSIONS: Artificial aging procedures affected the color stability of the maxillofacial silicone with or without nanoparticles incorporation.