Chromatic Adaption of Two Universal Composites: Spectrophotometric Analysis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the chromatic adaptability and color stability of two different composite resins, Omnichroma and Estelite Bulk-Fill Flow, in Class V restorations at different times.

Standardized Class V cavities were prepared on the labial surface of 34 extracted intact and noncarious human permanent molars. The dental elements were randomly divided into two groups according to the resin composite material. Group 1 was restored with Omnichroma (Tokuyama Dental Corporation Inc., Tokyo, Japan) and Group 2 was restored with Estelite BulkFill Flow Universal (Tokuyama Dental Corporation Inc., Tokyo, Japan). Color properties were assessed using a spectrophotometer, SpectroShadeTM Micro (MHT Optic Research, Niederhasli, Switzerland), at baseline (T0), immediately after Class V restoration (T1), 24 h after restoration (T2) and after thermocycling (T3) (ISO/TS 11405, 2015 protocol). Color difference (ΔE) was analyzed with a Student's t-test and a Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test to evaluate the differences, in terms of chromatic adaptability, between the two materials (inter-group analysis) while Kruskal-Wallis test e Two-way ANOVA statistical tests were used to evaluate the color stability of each material over time (intra-group analysis).

Regarding the inter-group analysis, there were no statistically significant differences between the two materials in all the comparisons: T0-T1 (p = 0.9025), T0-T2 (p = 0.2779), T0-T3 (p = 0.4694). Moreover, both groups showed an average ΔE > 2. In the intra-group analysis, no statistically significant differences were observed in either Group 1 (p = 0.954) or Group 2 (p = 0.8654).

The in vitro color matching, assessed by spectrophotometry, of the two tested resin composites does not vary at different time intervals. Furthermore, even though both composites use different mechanisms to produce the color the human eye perceives, they show very similar chromatic adaptability.