topic A What is dental amalgam? Should you use it in your dental practice?

1. topic AWhat is dental amalgam? Should you use it in your dental practice?

2. Introduction • Dental amalgam has been in use for more than 175 years and has been used for hundreds of millions of restorations. • This material is used to restore teeth with decay. • It is one of the materials used for direct restorations include, silver amalgam, composite resin and gold foil.

3. History Dental amalgams were first documented in a Tang Dynasty medical text HsinHsiu Pen Tsaowritten by Su Kung in 659.

4. History In the west countries, it appeared in Germany in 1528.[3][4] In the 1800s, amalgam became the dental restorative material of choice due to its low cost, ease of application, strength, and durability.[5]

5. Composition mercury +metal alloy mixture half-to-half one-to-two Maincomponent： Ag、Sn Secondary component： Cu、Zn The relative ratios between the other metals used in dental amalgam are also highly variable.

6. Properties • Ag • Advantages • Enhances the strength • Reduces liquidity • Forming a metallic luster • Disadvantages • Mixing difficulty • Engraving is not easy • Not easy to fill

7. Properties • Sn • Advantages • Easy engraving • Disadvantages • Difficultssolidification • Loss strength • Increases liquidity

8. Properties • Cu • Advantages • More hard • Reduces liquidity • Disadvantages • Increases the chances of corrosion • Causes surface discoloration

9. How safe is amalgam? the degree of harm caused by mercury in the body is related to the amount anxiety, irritability, memory loss, headaches and fatigue. research have concluded that amount released from amalgam in the mouth is very low. In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluated the research and found no reason to limit the use of amalgam.

10. Should anyone consider alternatives to amalgam fillings? • people have allergic reactions to the mercury in amalgam. • pregnant women • people who have high exposure to mercury

11. Pros and Cons Advantages Amalgam fillings are considered one of the best filling methods of all time. Here’s why:

12. Advantages • Cheap • Resistance • Malleable • Strong • can be placed in one visit • self-sealing • can be used in a wet environment • long track record • less technique sensitive.

13. Pros and Cons Disadvantages At the same time, dental amalgams have a lot of disadvantages to consider.

14. Disadvantages • Color • temperature changes • allergic reaction • environmental pollution • Controversy • removal of some healthy tooth structures

15. Comparison • Silver Fillings (Amalgams) • Advantages • Durability • Strength • Expense • Disadvantages • Poor aesthetics • Destruction of more tooth structure  • Discoloration • Cracks and fractures • Allergic reactions

16. Comparison • Cast Gold Fillings • Advantages • Durability • Strength • Aesthetics • Disadvantages • Expense • Additional office visits • Galvanic shock

17. Comparison • Tooth-colored Composites • Advantages • Aesthetics • Bonding to tooth structure • Versatility • Disadvantages • Lack of durability • increased chair time • Additional visits • Chipping • Expense

18. Conclusion Affordable Stable Safety

19. Reference • Bjørklund, G (1989). "The history of dental amalgam (in Norwegian)". Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 109 (34–36): 3582–3585. PMID 2694433. • Czarnetzki, A.; Ehrhardt S. (1990). "Re-dating the Chinese amalgam-filling of teeth in Europe". International Journal of Anthropology 5 (4): 325–332. • Bharti R, Wadhwani KK, Tikku AP, Chandra A (2010). "Dental amalgam: An update". J Conserv Dent 13 (4): 204–208. doi:10.4103/0972-0707.73380. PMC 3010024. PMID 21217947.