Examining the effect of the thickness of implant-supported monolithic zirconia restorations on the result color

Our study's objective was to assess how various superstructure thicknesses and saturations affected the final color of implant-supported monolithic zirconium (MZ) designs. In our study, super translucent MZ blocks (VITA YZ ST Multicolor Super Translucent Zirconia, Bad Säckingen, Germany) in A1 and A2 colors were used. Samples were designed with a 3D printer (ELEGOO Saturn 3 Ultra 12K MSLA 3D Printer, Shenzhen, China) and 1 mm, 1.5 mm, 2 mm thick samples in A1 and A2 colors were obtained with a vhf K5 milling machine (Ammerbuch, Germany) (n = 10). L0*, a0*, b0* values of veneers with colorimeter device; L1*, a1*, b1*values of the veneers along with the abutments were measured. Color differences; (∆E00*) was calculated. Statistics were performed by 2-way ANOVA and Paired Sample T-Test (P˂0.001). When compared according to thickness, significant differences were detected between L*, a*, b* and ∆E00* values (P<0.001). A decrease in L*, a*, b* values was observed in all groups with titanium infrastructure. It was measured that with the installation of the titanium substructure, the superstructure was now darker, greener and bluer. The L* value between the A1 and A2 groups did not significantly differ when evaluated using saturations. All groups' a* values showed a significant difference (P<0.001). There were notable variations in the b* value between the thicknesses of 1 mm and 1.5 mm (P˂0.001). No significant difference was found at 2 mm thickness. At ∆E00* value, no significant result was found in the effect of saturation difference on the result color for all groups. The result shows that the color is affected directly proportional to the thickness. As the thickness increased, the result color approached the actual desired color. However, although changing the saturation affected the a* and b* values, it did not give a significant result in achieving the desired color.