Toxicity of Dental Amalgams vs Composite Resins

2016

Ideal qualities of dental materials should include, in terms of biocompatibility, passivity towards oral tissues, so the material should not contain any leachable toxic and diffusible substances, neither release any harmful substance that can cause in time side effects, locally or generally. Even if amalgams are a group of dental materials with a long recorded history, many practitioners blame them, in contradiction with composite resins, especially for releasing free mercury into the body. On the other side, composite resins have reached great biocompatibility specifications, but also have many qualities that need more research, especially long term type.