title: A 14-year clinical assessment of 12 amalgam alloys.
abstract: After 14 years, 40 patients from an in vitro/in vivo study of 12 amalgam alloys were evaluated. All these patients had been attending private practitioners over the past 10 years, and the clinical evaluation revealed that 320 restorations were intact and 47 (12.8%) had been lost. The majority (75.0%) of the lost restorations were lost to crown placement or the replacement with another amalgam restoration. The six high-copper alloys exhibited better clinical performance, in both loss rate and fracture at the margins, than did traditional low-copper materials. Fracture at the margins was a better predictor of the loss of a restoration than were mechanical properties.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, School of Dentistry, Denver 80262.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Osborne
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Gale
mesh_terms: D003300:Copper; D003723:Dental Amalgam / Q000737:chemistry; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008422:Materials Testing; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012212:Rheology; D013718:Tensile Strength; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D003300:Copper; D003723:Dental Amalgam