Color perceptibility and validity of silicon carbide-based protective coatings for dental ceramics.

Abstract Statement of problem A silicon carbide (SiC) protective coating has been developed for dental ceramics, but whether the coated ceramics can match the classical VITA shades is unclear. Purpose The purpose of this observational in vitro study was to evaluate the color adaptability of SiC-coated dental ceramics by testing the hypotheses that SiC-coated disks can be fabricated to match standard tooth shades and have a perceptible color match rate of at least 50% for disks with a color difference (ΔE) Material and methods SiC-coated disks were fabricated to color match (ΔEab Results A significant difference in color match rate was found between disks with ΔE Conclusions SiC-coated disks were successfully fabricated to match all VITA classical shades, and clinical visual color matching results confirmed that ΔE was a useful metric in optimizing color matching for the SiC-coated dental ceramics.