Effects of Ceramic Thickness and Titanium Anodization on Esthetic Outcomes of Lithium Disilicate Ceramic Over Titanium Alloys.

Objective: In order to investigate the esthetic outcomes via color differences of various lithium disilicate ceramic thicknesses on various voltages of anodized titanium.

Materials and methods: 28 lithium disilicate ceramic specimens (medium translucency) were arranged into four groups based on the thickness of the ceramic: 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mm (n=7). Each group was tested with seven different materials (n=7): composite resin (A2-dentin shade, control), zirconia, titanium, 40 V (blue), 50 V (light yellow), 60 V (yellow) and 70 V (pink)-anodized titanium. All the specimens were measured with a spectrophotometer, and then compared with the composite resin (control) to establish the color differences. To be considered as clinically acceptable, the color differences must be lower than 2.7. The data obtained was statistically analyzed through ANOVA and a post hoc test (p=0.05).

Results: Both the thickness of the lithium disilicate ceramics and the type of material had a significant effect on the color differences observed (p⟨0.05). When ceramics thickness more than 2.0 mm were used for zirconia or 2.5- mm ceramic thickness for yellow-shade (50 V and 60 V) of anodized titanium, the color differences obtained were below the clinical acceptability values.

Conclusions: yellowshade of anodized titanium tends to achieve esthetics in combination with adequate ceramic thickness.