Amalgam (dentistry) not form. Early results from the clinical use of this new amalgam showed an improvement in marginal integrity. About 10 years later, another alloy, called Tytin, was introduced by adding significant amount of CuSn together with AgSn, in the form of a unicompositional spherical particle to eliminate the γ phase. Both of these relatively new alloys raised the copper content from 5%, present in the older balanced composition alloy, to about 13% for the newer alloys. Dental amalgam is produced by mixing liquid mercury with an alloy made of silver, tin, and copper solid particles. Small quantities of zinc, mercury
Amalgam (dentistry) or longer to reach a reasonably high value. At the time when the patient is dismissed from the surgery, typically some 15–20 minutes after placing the filling, the amalgam is relatively weak. Therefore, dentists need to instruct patients not to apply undue stress to their freshly placed amalgam fillings. In addition, amalgam restorations are brittle and susceptible to corrosion. The alloys are broadly classified as low-copper (5% or less copper) and high-copper alloys (13% to 30% copper). The solid particles of the alloy are either spherical or irregularly shaped microspheres of various sizes or a combination of the two. The