A STUDY OF AMALGAM CONDENSATION PROCEDURES WITH EMPHASIS ON THE RESIDUAL MERCURY CONTENT OF THE INCREMENTS

I. STRENGTH, FLOW, AND DIMENSIONAL CHANGE

¹ Department of Dental Materials, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, Ind.

Amalgam was condensed employing four different procedures for the removal of mercury from the individual increments during its condensation. In none of the procedures, however, were increments used where the mercury content was either insufficient or too great for practical use. Both hand and mechanical condensing were employed. No correlation could be noted between the physical properties or residual mercury content and the specific method of packing.

On the basis of work completed thus far it would seem that if a fundamentally sound technic for removing mercury from the individual increments is accompanied by a carefully standardized condensation procedure it makes little difference in the physical properties which technic is employed for removing the residual mercury. However, this must be regarded as a progress report since many factors remain to be studied before definite conclusions can be reached.