Objective: To investigate the effect of sintering time on translucency and color of translucent zirconia ceramics.Materials and Methods: Sixty translucent zirconia (5Y-TZP) specimens (12 × 1.6 mm, Katana (KAT) and NexxZr (NEX)) were divided into six groups (n = 10) according to sintering time; 1, 2 (specified by manufacturer-control), and 3 hs. Color differences (ΔEab) within same material when sintered using different times and between materials when same sintering time was used were calculated, as well as translucency parameters (TP) after the use of each sintering time. Data for ΔEab and TP were analyzed with two-way ANOVAs, pairwise comparisons, and Fisher's LSD Test (Post-hoc).Results: When 1 or 3 h were used, color difference from the color of specimens when manufacturer-specified time (2 h) was used was similar for both KAT and NEX.ΔEab values of NEX were significantly higher than KAT when sintered for 1 or 3 h (P < 0.001). TP increased for KAT when sintered for 1 h, and was higher than NEX.TP for NEX increased when sintered for 3 h (P < 0.001), but was not significantly different than that of KAT.Conclusions: Effect of 1 or 3-h sintering on color was similar for both zirconias. For NEX, this effect resulted in greater differences from the color of specimens when manufacturer-specified time was used. Sintering for 1 h increased the translucency of KAT.

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