Color of Dental Restorative Resins

The color of 7 composite resins, an unfilled re-storative resin, and 3 glaze coatings was deter-mined by reflection spectrophotometry and visually with Munsell color tabs. Statistically significant correlations existed between com-parable parameters of the spectrophotometric and Munsell data. There were observable coloi variations among the 11 resins studied, but only 3 materials were within the range fol natural tooth color. J Dent Res 57(4)557-562, April 1978. As a result of the color variation found in natu-ral teeth",2 and the translucency of enamel and dentin, it has been characteristically difficult to obtain an exact shade match between direct restorative materials and tooth structure.3 The Bis-GMA resin matrix in composite restorative materials has been combined with an optically matched dispersion of ceramic particles to ap-proximate more closely the various clinical shades of natural teeth. The majority of com-mercial products are marketed in a "universal" shade which is sufficiently translucent to re, flect the internal shades of underlying tooth structure. When underlying dentin is either thin or nonexistent, the restorative material must provide total color for the restoration. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the basic variation in shade among resin restorative materials and glaze coatings after initial set. Materials and Methods Seven commercial composite resins, 3 Received for publication August 5, 1977. Accepted for publication October 25, 1977