The Dental Update Archive

Dental amalgam is a mixture of a silver alloy with mercury.1 It has been used in dentistry since the 1800s2 and, through scientific investigation, the composition of the constituents of the alloy have been refined to produce a material with today's optimized clinical handling and performance. Traditional amalgam alloys suffered from a lack of strength, exhibited flow and creep and were susceptible to corrosion owing to the presence of the γ2, tin-mercury phase.