Comparative study regarding the chromatic distribution among anterior maxillary denture teeth in relation to color variation among natural anterior maxillary teeth
Authors:   Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Carol Davila“ Bucureşti, Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, Disciplina Protezare Parţială Mobilizabilă, Constantinovici Andrei , Păuna Mihaela ,   Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Carol Davila“ Bucureşti, Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, Disciplina Protezare Parţială Mobilizabilă, Andrei Oana Cella ,   Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Carol Davila“ Bucureşti, Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, Disciplina Protezare Parţială Mobilizabilă, Farcaşiu Titus ,   Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Carol Davila“ Bucureşti, Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, Disciplina Protezare Parţială Mobilizabilă, Bisoc Adriana ,   Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Carol Davila“ Bucureşti, Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, Disciplina Protezare Parţială Mobilizabilă, Tănăsescu Livia Alice ,   Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Carol Davila“ Bucureşti, Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, Disciplina Protezare Parţială Mobilizabilă, Măru Nicoleta ,   Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Carol Davila“ Bucureşti, Facultatea de Medicină Dentară, Disciplina Anatomie, Iosif Ionel ,   Centrul Naţional de Supraveghere şi Control al Bolilor Transmisibile, Bucureşti
Published: September 2021

Objective. The aim of this study was to check whether the ways in which the color of anterior maxillary teeth varies in artificial dental sets matches the way in which color varies in the anterior maxillary natural dentition. Material and method. One examiner, free of any visual color deficiencies, experienced in the use of intraoral shade matching devices, has studied the chromatic behavior within the maxillary anterior dental group (13-23) for 8 types of artificial denture teeth sets. Four of these sets are made out of acrylic resin: Star Lux (Ruthinium Grup, Italia), Vita MTF (Vita, North America), Spofadent Plus (SpofaDent s.a, Cehia) and Acry Rock (Ruthinium Grup, Italia), 2 sets are made of composite resin: Ivoclar Ivostar (Ivoclar Vivadent, Lichtenstein) and Pigeon Summit (Pigeon Dental, China) and 2 of them are ceramic sets of denture teeth: Vita Lumin Vacuum (Vita Zahnfabrik, Germania) and Enta Ceram (Enta B.V., Olanda). With the help of the Vita Easy Shade (Vita Zahnfabrik – Germany), CIEL*a*b* chromatic parameters have been recorded for each tooth. 5 distinct measurements were carried out for every tooth. The results were later compared to the values obtained when measuring color variation in natural anterior maxillary teeth. When calculating the relative color difference between two teeth, the following formula has been used: (1) For each set of denture teeth, the variation of color between every two adjacent teeth was noted and compared to the color variation between the correspondent natural teeth. The mean difference between these two results was compared to the ADA limit value for human eye perceptibility of color difference (2 units). Results. The following aspects have been noted: some sets of denture teeth, for certain groups of teeth, show a similar chromatic behavior to natural teeth whereas other doesn’t. For the pair of teeth 13/12, only 4 of the studied sets of denture teeth showed an unperceivable difference in color variation when compared to natural dentition (Spofadent Plus, Star Lux, Vita Lumin Vacuum, and Ivoclar Ivostar). 5 is the number of matching sets of denture teeth for the 12/11 pair (Star Lux, Spofadent Plus, Vita MTF, Pigeon Summit, and Vita Lumin Vacuum), 5 sets also matched for the 11/21 pair (Vita Lumin Vacuum, Acry Rock, Ivoclar Ivostar, Star Lux, and Spofadent Plus). For the pair 21/22 5 matching sets were found (Spofadent Plus, Ivoclar Ivostar, Vita MTF, Acry Rock, Star Lux) and no matching sets were found for the 22/23 pair of teeth. Within the limits of this study we can affirm that using the Spofadent Plus set of denture teeth would lead to prosthetic results that show a variation of color within the anterior maxillary dental group most similar to natural teeth. Conclusions. Despite the fact that they bare the same name code, different sets of denture teeth produced by different brands have different colors, irrespective of the material they are made of. Chromatic behaviour, from one tooth to the next also differs from one make to another. The field of color in artificial denture teeth requires supplementary attention. The conclusions of this study set a general direction that can be followed in future studies.