Effect of aging on color, gloss and surface roughness of CAD/CAM composite materials

To assess the effect of aging procedures on color, gloss and surface roughness of CAD/CAM composite materials.

6 CAD/CAM composite materials (Brilliant CRIOS, Cerasmart, Lava Ultimate, Tetric CAD, Shofu Block HC, Grandio Blocs) were tested. 10 CAD/CAM fabricated specimens of each material polished according to manufacturers' recommendations, were subjected to one of the following aging procedures; immersion in coffee (30 days, 37^οC), water thermocycling (5000 cycles, 5-55 °C) and photoaging (150,000 kJ/m²). Color, gloss and surface roughness measurements were performed before and after aging and the respective changes were calculated. Kruskal-Wallis tests, paired t-tests, one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were used for statistical analysis (a = 0.05).

Color changes ranged from 3.03 to 4.13 after coffee immersion, from 1.33 to 2.55 after thermocycling and from 1.02 to 2.75 after photoaging. No statistically significant differences for ΔE*_ab were found among materials after coffee immersion and thermocycling (p>0.05). Gloss changes ranged from -5.7 to -1.6 GU after coffee immersion, from -2.3 to 0.1 GU after thermocycling and from -4.4 to 0.5 GU after photoaging. No significant differences in gloss changes were found among materials after aging (p>0.05). Tetric CAD demonstrated the significantly lower gloss and the higher surface roughness after polishing. Except for gloss after thermocycling, aging procedures caused significant alteration of gloss and surface roughness parameters from baseline levels.

Aging procedures caused perceptible but acceptable color changes and small but visible gloss changes, while surface roughness parameters of the tested CAD/CAM composite materials were significantly affected by aging.

Aging procedures affected CAD/CAM composite materials indicating that these materials may be prone to color and surface alterations in the oral environment that could compromise the esthetics and the performance of the restorations. Clinical studies are needed to investigate the long-term behavior of the newly introduced CAD/CAM materials.