Color Stability of Bioactive Restorative Materials After Immersion in Various Media

The aim of this article is to assess the color stability of the bioactive restorative materials (Activa Bioactive, Beautifil II) compared with the conventional resin composite and resin-modified glass ionomer cement after immersion in different staining solutions overtime.

This is an in-vitro study that investigated four different material groups: (1) bioactive composite (ACTIVA Bioactive-Restorative, Pulpdent, USA), (2) Giomer composite (Beautifil II, SHOFU Dental GmbH, Japan), (3) resin-modified glass ionomer cement (Fuji II, GC Corporation, Japan), and (4) resin composite (Filtek Z350XT, 3M ESPE, USA). One hundred samples (n=25 each group) were fabricated using a custom acrylic mold (1 mm thick × 10 mm diameter) and then immersed in five different staining solution groups: coffee, black tea, cola, mixed berry juice, and saline. Baseline (T0) shade of samples was recorded using two spectrophotometers: VITA Easyshade Digital Advance and a spectrophotometer. Then shade was recorded at the intervals of 7 (T1), 14 (T2), and 28 (T3) days of immersion. Measurements were obtained and then ΔE was calculated for each group at each time point. Three-way analysis of variance tests were used to test the interactions between different variables at the 0.05 significance level.

All specimens showed a significant color change (P<0.001), following 7, 14, and 28 days of storage. Activa Bioactive and Filtek Z350 showed the highest color stability overtime in different staining solutions, whereas Fuji II and Beautifil II showed the least color stability. The most significant color change was noticed in the coffee group and then in the mixed berry juice group.

Resin-based restorative materials showed higher color stability than glass ionomer-based restorations. Both spectrophotometers gave comparable results for materials' color stability.