Comparison of translucency for different thicknesses of recent types of esthetic zirconia ceramics versus conventional ceramics … (in vitro study)

Abstract

Purpose

To compare the translucency of 6 different types of ceramic material using three different thicknesses.

Materials and methods

Square shaped specimens were cut from different types of ceramics with variable translucencies (e.max CAD HT, e.max CAD LT, ultra-translucency zirconia, top-translucency zirconia, super-translucency zirconia and high-translucency zirconia). Total samples of 144 specimens were divided into 6 main groups according to material; each group was divided into 3 subgroups according to thickness used (0.4, 0.6 and 1 mm). Using spectrophotometer each specimen was tested three times against white and black background and the average was taken to calculate translucency parameter (TP).

Results

Viewing the mean of translucency between studied groups, group EMHT (9.10 ± 1.45) scored the highest TP followed by group EMLT (8.36 ± 1.42) then group UTZ (6.66 ± 2.49), TTZ (6.25 ± 0.95), STZ (4.93 ± 0.96) and HTZ (4.83 ± 1.34) showed the lowest value. Each material showed a difference in mean value with different thicknesses. At 0.4 mm thickness one-way ANOVA revealed no significant difference between EMHT and UTZ (P = 0.942).

Conclusions

Glass ceramics showed higher TP values than crystalline based ceramics which means e.max is more translucent than zirconia. The thickness of the material has direct effect on its translucency. Ultra-translucency zirconia is the most recommended material to be used in conservative esthetic cases.