Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Microstructural Changes In Retrieved Amalgam Restorations, Grayson W. Marshall Jr., D. D. Mccoy, John H. Kinney, Hugo Letzel, Sally J. Marshall

Cells and Materials

Many blended or dispersed phase high Cu amalgams show excellent clinical performance in long term clinical trials. However, little is known concerning the microstructural changes that occur during clinical use of these systems. This investigation sought to characterize some of the changes that occur in the Ag-Cu particles and their surrounding reaction zones based on a study by backscattered scanning electron microscopy (BSEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy and a new rnicroprobe technique called Colorad which assigns various colors to elements and element combinations and indicates changes in elemental concentration by changes in color value (brightness). Restorations were retrieved from clinical trials …