Cavity liner for dental restorations

Claim 1

A method for applying dental restorations, which comprises: preparing a cavity within a carious tooth for receiving a dental mercury-containing amalgam filling; coating the surfaces of said cavity with a layer of an adhesive-metal lining composition consisting essentially of the combination of greater than 46 wt.% of at least one finely divided pure metal at a position higher than tin on the International E.M.F. Series characterized by a corrosion resistance which is higher than the corrosion resistance of said subsequently applied dental amalgam and which has a capability of being amalgamated by diffusion of the mercury into said lining and which has a particle size of less than 400 mesh, with less than 54 wt.% of an ahesive selected from the group consisting of polycarboxylate cements, zinc silico-phosphate, zinc phosphate, copper phosphate, silicate, zinc oxide-eugenol, zinc oxide-eugenol-o-ethoxybenzoic acid, and a resin, to a thickness of less than 100 μ, wherein said composition contains up to about 0.1 wt.% of a wetting agent and a volatile solvent in the final dried form; and packing said remaining adhesive-metal coated cavity with a Ag-Hg-Sn dental amalgam, whereby free mercury present in said amalgam is diffused into and amalgamates with said metal of said adhesive-metal lining coating so as to form an integral restoration of said dental amalgam and said coating which is corrosion resistant and said adhesive effectively promotes adhesion between said integral restoration and said cavity surfaces.

Claim 2

A method for applying dental restorations, which comprises: preparing a cavity within a carious tooth for receiving a dental mercury-containing amalgam filling; coating the surfaces of said cavity with a layer of an adhesive-metal lining composition consisting essentially of the combination of greater than 46 wt.% of at least one finely divided pure metal at a position higher than tin on the International E.M.F. Series characterized by a corrosion resistance which is higher than the corrosion resistance of said subsequently applied dental amalgam and which has a capability of being amalgamated by diffusion of the mercury into said lining and which has a particle size of less than 400 mesh, with less than 54 wt.% of an ahesive selected from the group consisting of polycarboxylate cements, zinc silico-phosphate, zinc phosphate, copper phosphate, silicate, zinc oxide-eugenol, zinc oxide-eugenol-o-ethoxybenzoic acid, and a resin, to a thickness of less than 100 μ, wherein said composition contains up to about 0.1 wt.% of a wetting agent and a volatile solvent in the final dried form; and packing said remaining adhesive-metal coated cavity with a Ag-Hg-Sn dental amalgam, whereby free mercury present in said amalgam is diffused into and amalgamates with said metal of said adhesive-metal lining coating so as to form an integral restoration of said dental amalgam and said coating which is corrosion resistant and said adhesive effectively promotes adhesion between said integral restoration and said cavity surfaces.