Optical properties of manually and CAD/CAM-fabricated polymers

The aim of this study was to compare the light translucency and fluorescence 5 manually and 11 CAD/CAM polymer materials to a glass-ceramic material. Light-transmission was measured using a spectrophotometer. Overall light transmission (n=40) was calculated as the integration (tc (λ) dλ [10(-5)]) of all tc values for the wavelengths from 400 to 700 nm. One-Way-ANOVA, (Scheffe's post hoc) revealed following light transmission values: Artbloc Temp (33.1%; A), Polycon ae (33.6%; A), Cercon base PMMA (38.3%; B), Luxatemp Fluorescence (40.7%; C), Protemp 4 (41.6%; C), Structur 2 SC (43.1%; D), CAD Temp (45.0%; E), Paradigm MZ 100 (45.4%; E), New Outline (45.6%,E), Ambarino High-Class (45.9%; E, F), Fixtemp C&B (46.1%; E, F, G), Lava Ultimate (47.1%; F, G), Telio-CAD (47.3%; G), glass-ceramic Vita Mark II (50.8%; H), New Outline CAD (52.1%; H, I), QUATTRO DISC Eco PMMA (53.0%; I) and Zenotec PMMA (54.5%, J). Polymers from conventional and industrial polymerization show widely varying translucent and fluorescent properties when compared with glass-ceramics of the same color.