[Electrochemical stability of dental materials. Part 4. Immersion test of amalgam]

Specimens prepared with three commercial dental amalgams were immersed in three kinds of solutions: Ringer's, 1% lactic acid and 0.05% hydrochloric acid, at 37 degrees C, and subjected to a repeated corrosion test for fifteen weeks. Quantitative analysis was performed by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry for released metal elements to determine the composition of these amalgam alloy powders and immersed specimens. The immersion test for one week was not sufficient to prove the corrosion tendency of amalgam and a longer period of immersion was considered necessary. The kinds and amounts of released elements in each solution differed, and the corrosion tendency of high copper amalgam differed from that of conventional amalgam.