Dental powder composite and amalgam

Claim 2

A dental powder composite adapted to be combined with mercury to form dental amalgam comprising: a. about 70% to about 99.5% by weight of an amalgamatable alloy in powder form of about 75% by weight silver and about 25% by weight tin, said alloy having up to about 8% by weight of the silver-tin alloy replaced with up to about 6% by weight of copper and up to about 2% by weight of zinc, and b. about 0.5% to less than 30% by weight of unalloyed indium powder.

Claim 3

A dental powder composite as in claim 1 wherein said amalgamatable alloy comprises from about 85% to about 95% by weight of the composite and wherein said unalloyed indium powder comprises from about 5% to about 15% by weight of the composite.

Claim 4

The dental powder composite of claim 1 combined with mercury in the form of an amalgam.

Claim 5

The dental amalgam of claim 3 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from 0.5:1 to 1:1.

Claim 6

The dental amalgam of claim 3 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from about 0.5:1 to about 0.75:1.

Claim 7

A dental powder composite adapted to be combined with mercury to form dental amalgam comprising: a. about 70% to about 99.5% by weight of (i) about 50% to about 95% by weight of an amalgamatable alloy in powder form of about 75% by weight silver and about 25% by weight tin, said alloy having up to about 8% by weight of the silver-tin alloy replaced with up to about 6% by weight of copper and up to about 2% by weight of zinc, and (ii) about 5% to about 50% by weight of discrete particles of a substantially non-amalgamatable alloy containing at least 50% by weight silver, said substantially non-amalgamatable alloy being of substantially different chemical composition from said amalgamatable alloy and present as a dispersion phase in a subsequently formed amalgam matrix, and b. about 0.5% to less than 30% by weight of unalloyed indium powder.

Claim 8

A dental powder composite adapted to be combined with mercury to form dental amalgam comprising: a. about 70% to about 99.5% by weight of (i) about 50% to about 95% by weight of an amalgamatable alloy in powder form of about 75% by weight silver and about 25% by weight tin, said alloy having up to about 8% by weight of the silver-tin alloy replaced with up to about 6% by weight of copper and up to about 2% by weight of zinc, and (ii) about 5% to about 50% by weight of discrete particles of a substantially non-amalgamatable alloy containing at least 50% by weight silver, said substantially non-amalgamatable alloy being of substantially different chemical composition from said amalgamatable alloy and present as a dispersion phase in a subsequently formed amalgam matrix, and b. about 0.5% to less than 30% by weight of unalloyed indium powder.

Claim 9

A dental powder composite as in claim 6 which comprises: a. from about 85% to about 95% by weight of said amalgamatable alloy and said unamalgamatable alloy; and b. from about 5% to about 15% by weight of said unalloyed indium.

Claim 10

The dental powder composite of claim 6 combined with mercury in the preparation of an amalgam filling material.

Claim 11

The amalgam filling material of claim 8 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from 0.5:1 to 1:1.

Claim 12

The amalgam filling material of claim 8 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from about 0.5:1 to about 0.75:1.

Claim 13

The amalgam filling material of claim 8 wherein the substantially non-amalgamatable alloy is in the form of discrete particles in the amalgam.

Claim 14

The amalgam filling material of claim 9 wherein the substantially non-amalgamatable alloy is in the form of discrete particles in the amalgam.

Claim 15

The amalgam filling material of claim 10 wherein the substantially non-amalgamatable alloy is in the form of discrete particles in the amalgam.

Claim 16

The dental powder composite of claim 6 wherein said substantially non-amalgamatable alloy consists essentially of a silver-copper alloy containing at least 50% by weight silver and the remainder copper.

Claim 17

The dental powder composite of claim 6 wherein said substantially non-amalgamatable alloy consists essentially of a silver-copper eutectic alloy consisting essentially of about 72% by weight silver and about 28% by weight of copper.

Claim 18

The dental powder composite of claim 14 combined with mercury in the preparation of amalgam filling material.

Claim 19

The amalgam filling material of claim 16 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from 0.5:1 to 0.75:1.

Claim 20

The dental powder composite of claim 15 combined with mercury in the preparation of an amalgam filling material.

Claim 21

The amalgam filling material of claim 18 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from 0.5:1 to 0.75:1.

Claim 22

The dental powder composite of claim 6 comprising: a. about 45% to 50% by weight of said amalgamatable alloy powder, b. about 40% to 45% by weight of said substantially non-amalgamatable alloy powder, and c. about 8% to 12% by weight of said unalloyed indium powder.

Claim 23

The dental powder composite of claim 6 comprising: a. about 48% by weight of said amalgamatable alloy powder, b. about 42% by weight of said substantially nonamalgamatable alloy powder, and c. about 10% by weight of said unalloyed indium powder.

Claim 24

The dental powder composite of claim 20 wherein said substantially non-amalgamatable silver base alloy is comprised of about 75% by weight silver and about 28% by weight copper.

Claim 25

The dental powder composite of claim 20 combined with mercury in the preparation of an amalgam filling material.

Claim 26

The amalgam filling material of claim 23 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from 0.5:1 to 0.75:1.

Claim 27

The dental powder composite of claim 22 combined with mercury in the preparation of an amalgam filling material.

Claim 28

The amalgam filling material of claim 25 wherein the mercury is present in a weight ratio of mercury to composite from about 0.5:1 to 0.75:1.