The use of extraction replicas in scanning electron microscopy for the elemental analysis of marginal seals

Elemental analysis of marginal seal material on 20 bulk samples of occlusally restored teeth have shown that, generally, more elements were detected in the seal material analyzed on the bulk restoration or fractured tooth surfaces than when such material was extracted using a nitrocellulose replica prior to analysis. No mercury was detected in any of the extracted seal material and only three of the replica specimens contained silver. This implies that the technique of using extraction replicas to remove material from the amalgam-tooth interface for subsequent x-ray microanalysis can provide an accurate elemental composition. The details of fabrication and the advantages of using high resolution nitrocellulose replicas for extracting marginal seal material from teeth for subsequent x-ray microanalysis are described.