Quantification of color variation of restorative materials used on pediatric dentistry after pigmentation

Objective: To quantify the color variation of two glass ionomer cements and a composite resin used in pediatric dentistry, after being immersed in different pigments agents. Methods: Using two glass ionomer cements (Ketac(tm) Molar and Photac(tm) Fil) and a microhybrid composite resin (Filtek(tm) z250), were produced 40 disks of each material (10 mm in diameter and 2 mm thick). The samples were soaked in artificial saliva (control group), coke, peach Ice Tea(r) and chocolate milk, for 72 hours in an oven at 37ºC. After this period, the samples were washed in 50 ml of distilled water. Finally, using the spectrophotometer, it was made the reading of results. The color change was measured according to the CIE L * a * b * system. Color changes were statistically analyzed using parametric one-way ANOVA and ANOVA with Welch correction, the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis tests and post-hoc Tukey and Dunnet T3 with p≤ 0.05. Results: The immersion of restorative materials in different pigmentation agents caused a significant color variation on the samples. The agent who presented higher results was the Peach Ice Tea(r). The chocolate milk was the fluid with lowest pigmentation capacity of all restorative materials under study. The greater color variation was found on the Ketac(tm) Molar submerged in Coca-Cola(r) and the smallest on the Filtek(tm) z250 in chocolate milk. Conclusion: All restorative materials were shown to be susceptible to pigmentation by all agents. The Filtek(tm) z250 proved to have better color stability, followed by Photac(tm) Fil and finally by Ketac(tm) Molar.