A dental block for producing a dental prosthesis comprises a green body including zirconia and having a chemical composition including increasing amounts of a chroma component, such as manganese, through a thickness of the green body. The green body is substantially white with a substantially consistent optical characteristic of chroma across the thickness, and is subsequently millable and sinterable to form the dental prosthesis with an optical characteristic of decreasing gray color through a thickness of the dental prosthesis.
