A long time ago, for an extended period of time, deontologists
started using amalgam—material originated from the alloy of mercury with other
metals such as silver, copper, tin, zinc or gold—as the best known substance to
replace the lost pieces of carious teeth in a treatment known as restoration;
however, this material is no longer believed to be the most suitable one for this
treatment nowadays, given that this metallic compound had been making fools of
us for many years.
Dentists need to give that cavity already produced by the
caries a specific shape to be able to put this mixture of metals in the damaged
tooth; they use a device named high-speed handpiece—in simpler terms, a dental
drill—to remove the caries from the contaminated tooth. The shape that is given
to this new hollow space in the tooth is similar to a trapezoidal prism, which
helps to keep the amalgam in its correspondent place, since this alloy expands to
the remaining walls of the tooth.
The issue with this material is that it does not stick to
the teeth and this leaves a space between the amalgam and the tooth, which lets
the caries pass in the middle of them and turns the problem into a worst
situation. On the other hand, composite—the white material used for restoration
nowadays, made of synthetic elements—does not depend on the cavity made by the
dental drill, and this material attaches to the tooth thanks to the acid—a blue
substance that produces tiny holes in the cavity and has a sour flavor—and the
adhesive—paste that makes the composite stick to the tooth.
This is the main difference between these two materials
and the reason why deontologists do not use amalgam anymore. Another reason why
people prefer composite over amalgam is because no one likes those gray spots
in their molars.
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