The effect of curing units and staining solutions on the color stability of resin composites

This study investigated the effects of two different light curing units and two staining solutions on the color stability of a hybrid composite and a nanohybrid composite after different immersion periods. Thirty disk-shaped specimens (10 mm in diameter, 2-mm thick) were fabricated for each of the resin composites, Clearfil AP-X and Filtek Supreme. The specimens were randomly divided into two groups according to the curing unit used: Group I specimens (n = 15) were cured with a quartz-tungsten-halogen (QTH) light for 40 seconds, and Group II specimens (n = 15) were cured with a light-emitting diode (LED) unit in standard mode for 40 seconds. The specimens were incubated in 100% humidity at 37 degrees C for 24 hours. Then, the baseline color values (L*, a*, b*) of each specimen were measured with a spectrophotometer according to the CIELab color scale. After baseline color measurements, five randomly selected specimens from each group (Groups I and II) were immersed in one of two staining solutions (tea or coffee) or distilled water (control). After 1, 7 and 30 days of immersion, the color values of each specimen were remeasured and the color change value (deltaE*ab) calculated. Color changes caused by immersion in tea and coffee for 30 days were only perceptible in the Clearfil AP-X specimens cured with QTH or LED. In the Filtek Supreme specimens, coffee perceptibly stained the teeth after all immersion periods and tea stained after 30 days. Polymerization with QTH or LED did not cause any significant difference in the color stability of Clearfil AP-X or Filtek Supreme. While there were no significant differences between staining solutions in the Clearfil AP-X specimens cured with LED after one and seven days of storage and one day of storage in the QTH cured specimens, significant differences were observed between water and coffee after seven days of storage. In the Filtek Supreme specimens cured with QTH or LED, there were statistically significant differences between the staining solutions after one and seven days of storage. After 30 days of storage, no significant difference was found between tea and coffee in either resin composite cured with QTH or LED. The effect of the staining solutions (tea, coffee) on color changes in composites was immersion time and resin-material dependent.