Dental Amalgam Fillings

Dental Amalgam Fillings

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Dental amalgam is an alloy made by mixing mercury with silver–tin alloy to which varying amounts of copper and a small amount of zinc are added.

Classification of Dental Amalgam (Adapted from Marzouk, 1997): Amalgam alloy can be classified as:

 According to the content:

• Copper amalgam
• Silver amalgam
• Preamalgamated alloys
• Amalgam with noble metals

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 According to the number of alloy metals:

• Binary alloys (silver–tin)
• Ternary alloys (silver–tin–copper)
•  Quaternary alloys (silver—tin—copper—indium)

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According to whether the powder consists of unmixed or admixed alloys:

• Admixed/dispersion or blended alloys
• Single compositional/uni-compositional alloys

According to the shape of the powdered particles:

• Spherical shape (smooth-surfaced spheres)
• Lathe-cut (irregular, ranging from spindles to shavings)
• Combination of spherical and lathe-cut (admixed)

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According to the powder’s particle size:

• Microcut
• Finecut
• Coarsecut

According to the copper content of powder:

• Low-copper content alloy: Less than 6%
• High-copper content alloy: 6% to 30%

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According to the addition of noble metals:

• Platinum
• Gold
• Palladium

According to the presence of zinc:

• Zinc containing (more than 0.01%)
• Non-zinc-containing (less than 0.01%)