Diffuse Reflectance of Dental Materials After Staining: A Comparative Study

Objectives: To evaluate in vitro, the color staining susceptibility of eight popular composite resins used in general practice, after immersion in staining solutions. Methods: Samples of eight light-cured composite resins (Filtek™ Z250 (FZ250), Filtek™ Silorane (FS) and the Filtek™ Supreme XTE system (enamel: FXTEE, dentin: FXTED, body: FXTEB) from 3M-ESPE; Enamel HRi™ system (enamel: EHRiE, dentin: EHRiD) from Micerium S.p.A and Durafill VS (DVS) from Heraeus Kulzer), (n=32) (12mm in diameter, 2mm in thickness) were made. All specimens were then immersed in distilled water (control-group), red wine (Quinta dos Ganhões – Alentejo, Portugal), espresso coffee (Nespresso “Roma” blend - Nestlé, Switzerland) and black label tea (Lipton Yellow Label Tea - Lipton, France), for a period of 72 hours and kept in an incubator at 37ºC. Reflectances in the UV-Vis-NIR spectral range and also the remission function(plotted in terms of F(R) – Kubelka-Munk equation) were measured by a spectrophotometer (equipped with a ICCD Andor optical sensor model i-Star 720 and a 450W Xenon lamp) through ground-state diffuse reflectance absorption spectra. Results: All dental materials immersed in staining solutions presented a generalized increase on their remission function. The highest remission variation was observed for EHRiE with espresso coffee, while the lowest variation was observed for FS with black label tea. Red wine proved to have the highest staining potential for all resins followed by espresso coffee. Black label tea showed the lowest staining potential. Conclusion: All the resin composites in this study were susceptible to pigmentation, with some variation depending on the constituent monomers, the volume percentage of inorganic filler and the staining solutions.