Dentistry Smile! New NIST Amalgam Material Contains No Mercury If you have a metallic dental filling, you probably have a small amount of mercury in your mouth. For decades, U.S. dentists have used alloys containing copper, tin, silver, zinc and mercury in amalgams. Such alloys are ideally suited to the job. They're long-lasting, strong, corrosion-resistant and bond easily to tooth enamel. However, concern over the toxicity of mercury has prompted discussion about restricting their use.
Until now, there were no replacement materials that worked as well. Metallurgists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have perfected a method for making silver powder that, when properly consolidated, has properties that equal or exceed those of mercury-containing alloys. The powder is precipitated from a solution and then treated with a dilute acid to remove silver oxide from the surface of the very small silver particles. These particles then can be compacted carefully with normal dental tools into a tooth cavity where they consolidate through cold welding. Fillings made this way are 80 percent dense and are at least as strong as mercury-alloy amalgams. NIST is inviting companies to apply to license the patented process by contacting Terry Lynch at (301) 975-2691. Media Contact: Linda Joy , (301) 975-4403 -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
