Chromatic behavior of porcelain fired on titanium.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the chromatic changes of 3 porcelains after firing on titanium. METHOD AND MATERIALS: Thirty-six veneer crowns were obtained by firing 3 different porcelains to titanium: Ti22 (Noritake), Triceram (Esprident), and Vitatitankeramik (Vita). A single shade was used for each porcelain. Besides the titanium-porcelain specimens, 3 titanium-free controls (one for each porcelain) were obtained. A spectrophotometer was used to measure the color of porcelain facings of the veneer crowns and the porcelain controls. Once the chromatic digital values were recorded, the color differences between the titanium-porcelain samples and the corresponding porcelain controls were computed. The results were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The least chromatic difference was observed for Ti22 porcelain, and the greatest difference for Triceram porcelain. Regarding the direction of the chromatic alteration after firing on titanium, very significant differences were found between the porcelains. CONCLUSION: Perceivable differences were found between the shade of the porcelain fired to titanium and that of the same porcelain fired alone. No significant differences were found between the 3 porcelains regarding the total chromatic modification.