Background and Aims: Along with the advances in dental materials and invention of new techniques for ceramic producion, the demand for the beauty and matching restoration’s color with patient’s natural teeth is growing. Nowadays, zirconia systems are the focus of attention. Despite their strength, one of the problems with such systems is the high opacity and failing to provide the favored color. Considering few studies about the influence of shading on Zirconia, the purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of different shading of zirconia-based ceramics on the biaxial flexural strength .

  Materials and Methods: In this in vitro experimental study, Rainbow (Dentium, Korea) zirconia-based ceramics (the diameter of 15mm and 1mm in thick) were divided into four groups of 10 specimens. According to Vita shade guide system and manufacturer’s time recommendations (3 seconds), three groups of disc specimens were shaded to A3, B3 and D3 colors and other ten specimens remained uncolored as control group. The biaxial flexural strength test of discs was evaluated and the elements’ composition of colors was detected by Energy Dispersiue X-ray Microanalysisd (EDX). Finally, data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Post-hoc tests.

  Results: The biaxial flexural strength in non colored specimens, A3 shaded discs, B3 shaded, and D3 shaded specimens were determined 1061.93, 819.16, 1100.10, and 825.48 MPa respectively which was statistically significant among groups (P<0.001). The statistical analysis revealed that the highest strength in B3 and non colored groups which were significantly higher than A3 and D3. EDX analysis showed significant differences among different colored compositions.

  Conclusion: The biaxial flexural strength of zirconia cores are affected by shading and the specific selected color.