Strengthening dental amalgams
Abstract
"For over 100 years dental restorations have been produced from an alloy containing mercury, silver, tin, and other components in lesser amounts. Early research done by such men as Townsend and Flagg in the last half of the nineteenth century, and Black in 1895 and 1896, contributed greatly to the understanding of the amalgam setting reaction and testing methods. In the last four decades various investigators have done much to further improve the amalgam alloy and refine the techniques of manipulation. These studies have not only described the factors related to the manufacture and production of the amalgam alloy, but also the factors related to mixing, manipulation and compaction. Also studied were factors relating to the basic nature of the reaction between mercury and the silver alloy. Most research in changing the amalgam preparation was done to improve the handling characteristics of the amalgam. Even with all the improvements designed to benfit the service characteristics of the amalgam, fractures still occur too regularly for satisfactory acceptance of the present amalgam. One investigation of defective dental restorations (Moore and Stewart, 1967) reported that of the amalgam restorations studied, 42% were defective. Twenty-six percent of all restorations studied had fractured in service."--Introduction.
Degree
M.S.
Thesis Department
Rights
OpenAccess.
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