title: Dental amalgam: success or failure?
abstract: A review of recent literature suggests that reasons for amalgam failure can generally be identified and avoided. These include: retentive failure, marginal breakdown, fracture of the tooth or restoration, reasons for sensitivity, poor surface characteristics, and contributions to periodontal disease. Materials themselves are least often the source of problems; rather, most of the failures can be attributed to lack of attention to detail in cavity preparation and handling of the materials.
authors.affiliation: Indiana University, School of Dentistry, Department of Operative Dentistry, Indianapolis 46202.
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D003723:Dental Amalgam; D003736:Dental Cavity Lining; D003737:Dental Cavity Preparation; D003763:Dental Leakage; D003775:Dental Polishing; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008434:Matrix Bands; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D003723:Dental Amalgam