Dental Amalgam - Restoration Material.

Dental amalgam is the most commonly used dental restorative material used for dental fillings. First introduced in France in the early 19th century, it contains a mixture of mercury with at least one other metal. Amalgam has been the restorative method of choice for many years due to its low cost, ease of application, strength, durability, and bacteriostatic effects. Factors that have led to recent decline in use are a lingering concern about detrimental health effects, aesthetics, and environmental pollution. The health issue concerns the known toxic affects of mercury and whether these are present in the amounts released from the amalgam. The aesthetic issue is because the metallic colour does not blend with the natural tooth colour. This is especially a concern when used on front teeth, but it can be addressed using alternative dental materials. The environmental concerns are regarding mercury emissions during preparation and from waste amalgam upon cremation of deceased individuals.

Click the image to enlarge

Dental Amalgam Filling


Click the image to enlarge

Dental Amalgam filling of 1^st Molar


Composition:

Currently, dental amalgams are composed of 43% to 54% by weight of mercury and the remaining powder is made up of mainly silver (~20-35%) and some tin, copper (~10%), and zinc (~2%).

Dental Amalgam - Chemistry

An amalgam is a substance formed by the reaction of mercury with another metal. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, notable exceptions being iron and platinum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore.

The origin of the word amalgam is from the Medieval Latin amalgama, "alloy of mercury (esp. with gold or silver)," perhaps an alteration of L. malagma "poultice, plaster," probably from Arabic al-malgham "an emollient poultice or unguent for sores (especially warm)", perhaps from Greek malagma "softening substance," from malassein "to soften" from malakos "soft".

Dental Amalgam:

Dentistry has used alloys of mercury with metals such as silver, copper, indium, tin and zinc.