Effect of pediatric drugs on the color stability of dental restorative materials currently used in pediatric dentistry

The purpose of this in vitro study was to assess the color stability of esthetic restorative materials after immersion in different pediatric drugs. Three different restorative materials namely composite resin, alkasite and high-viscosity glass ionomer cement(HVGIC) were used to prepare total 96 (32 from each) disc-shaped specimens(2mmx5mm). A spectrophotometer was used to record the color of each sample after sample preparation and 7 days following the staining technique. After 1-week period, ΔE ∗ values were calculated. The average color changes(ΔE) for all drugs/restorative materials ranged from 1.81 to 8.08. The most prominent alteration was found in Cough syrup-Alkasite(8.08 ± 2.62) and the least one was found in Cough syrup-HVGIC(1.81 ± 0.74) pairwise. The color change observed in Cough syrup-Alkasite group was statistically significantly higher than in Cough syrup-HVGIC (p < 0.05). Alkasite showed greater color alteration with all drugs compared to other materials and HVGIC showed better color stability with all drug formulations.