On color adjustment potential and color blending threshold of dental composite resins

Objective: Color Adjustment Potential evaluates the color blending of dental Composite Resins. While Color Adjustment Potential is simple, its clinical relevance is unclear. This research aims to understand it better and to create an index for Composite Resins with meaningful clinical interpretation. Materials and Methods: Single and double shade composite disks of various diameters and opacities were created to test the indices. Color measurements used a dental colorimeter, avoiding subjective assessments. Color Adjustment Potential analysis of each material revealed insights, leading to the creation of a new Color Blending Threshold, providing a clinically relevant numerical value for Composite Resins. Results: Color Adjustment Potential's numerical significance was clarified and introduced a new index for clinical applications. Color adaptation of each test shade to all Vita shades was also calculated, useful for single-shade restorations in open and closed cavity types. Conclusions: The proposed Color Blending Threshold defines the open/closed cavity dimension that can be adequately restored with a single shade of resin composite.