Abstract
The choice of denture artificial teeth is made up onto several criteria regarding both aesthetics and functionality. Of these, colour stability is one of the determining factors. Colour stability of materials used in aesthetic prosthetic restoration is important for the long-term success of the treatment. Our study was conducted to compare colour stability of different acrylic artificial teeth available on the market and usually used in manufacturing partial and full dentures in Romania and to find a ranking of staining ability of different solutions with which artificial teeth could come into contact lately, during function or cleaning phases. For this study were purchased six boxes of identical front superior acrylic denture teeth from four different manufacturers, coded by letters V, M, R and S). These teeth were immersed in various liquids such as red wine, Coca Cola, black tea, coffee, which we considered to be ingested frequently by the largest part of the population. Our study shows that, of the four analyzed drinks, the most colouring is coffee. The same operator determined the color coordinates using the Easy-Shade intraoral spectrophotometer. The results were expressed using CIELAB colour notation system. Color difference was expressed as DE*. A device was made for constant positioning the tooth versus the Vita Easy Shade spectrophotometer rod used to determine colour changes in the central third of the buccal area. The acrylic prefabricated teeth suffered various colour changes in contact with those drinks, with magnitudes depending on the type of the liquid and the acrylic teeth chosen. We compared colour stability of two batches of homolog teeth, first unmodified and second grinded and polished in the dental laboratory, from which the most affected were R and M where this colour change occurs in three of the four kinds of drinks in which we have made the immersion. Washing the dentures with soap and water reduced differences in colour caused by contact with any type of these drinks. Keywords: color stability, denture, acrylic teeth, staining drink