Translucency of dental ceramics with different thicknesses

Statement of problem The increased use of esthetic restorations requires an improved understanding of the translucent characteristics of ceramic materials. Ceramic translucency has been considered to be dependent on composition and thickness, but less information is available about the translucent characteristics of these materials, especially at different thicknesses. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between translucency and the thickness of different dental ceramics. Material and Methods Six disk-shaped specimens of 8 glass ceramics (IPS e.max Press HO, MO, LT, HT, IPS e.max CAD LT, MO, AvanteZ Dentin, and Trans) and 5 specimens of 5 zirconia ceramics (Cercon Base, Zenotec Zr Bridge, Lava Standard, Lava Standard FS3, and Lava Plus High Translucency) were prepared following the manufacturers’ instructions and ground to a predetermined thickness with a grinding machine. A spectrophotometer was used to measure the translucency parameters (TP) of the glass ceramics, which ranged from 2.0 to 0.6 mm, and of the zirconia ceramics, which ranged from 1.0 to 0.4 mm. The relationship between the thickness and TP of each material was evaluated using a regression analysis (α=.05). Results The TP values of the glass ceramics ranged from 2.2 to 25.3 and the zirconia ceramics from 5.5 to 15.1. There was an increase in the TP with a decrease in thickness, but the amount of change was material dependent. An exponential relationship with statistical significance ( P