The purpose of this article was to review the changes in translucency of direct esthetic restorative materials after curing, aging and treatment. As a criterion for the evaluation of clinical translucency changes, visual perceptibility threshold in translucency parameter difference (ΔTP) of 2 was used. Translucency changes after curing were perceivable depending on experimental methods and products (largest ΔTP in resin composites = 15.9). Translucency changes after aging were reported as either relatively stable or showed perceivable changes by aging protocols (largest ΔTP in resin composites = -3.8). Translucency changes after curing, aging and treatment were perceivable in several products and experimental methods. Therefore, shade matching of direct esthetic materials should be performed considering these instabilities of translucency in direct esthetic materials.

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