Long-term sealing properties of amalgam restorations: an in vitro study

Conventional and high-copper Class V amalgam restorations showed leakage after seven months' storage in artificial saliva and thermal-stressing. The rate of marginal microleakage was not significantly affected by the application of a Copal varnish after this period. At the 14-month storage and thermal-stressing period, all varnished and unvarnished high-copper restorations and the varnished conventional amalgam restorations showed significantly improved sealing properties in the occlusal wall compared with the seven-month period. The unvarnished conventional amalgam restorations appeared to have reached their peak sealing level by seven months under the conditions of this experiment. No significant improvement in the sealing properties of either the conventional or high-copper amalgam restorations was achieved after the 14-month period by the application of Copal varnish.