Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Currently, silicone elastomer has been widely used as an ideal material of repairing maxillofacial defects. However, instable color of elastomer prosthesis is the key factor of influencing the serve life.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the influencing factors on the color stability of silicone elastomer prosthesis, and to provide evidence for clinical instruction.
METHODS: Using “silicone elastomer, prosthesis” in Chinese and in English, a computer search was performed among VIP Periodical Full-text Database and PubMed database from September 1987 to December 2009 to retrieve articles on chromatology instability. Literatures about silicone tube colors were included. Literatures of irrelevant purpose and repetitive content were excluded. Thirty-eight literatures were involved in analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The influencing factors of the color stability of maxillofacial elastomer were summarized. The optical qualities, coloration, and the aging of materials are closely relative to the color stability of silicone elastomer prosthesis. Therefore, how to prevent the elastomer from fading and to prolong the serve life of the prosthesis is a prospective topic of current studies. However, the mechanism of the color instability of the prosthesis needs to be further explored on the molecule level.