In vitro Corrosion and in vivo Marginal Fracture of Dental Amalgams

Abstract

The relationship between in vitro corrosion and in vivo marginal fracture of dental amalgams has been studied. The potentiodynamic cyclic polarization technique has been used to determine the in vitro corrosion index. The marginal fracture data have been obtained from previous clinical studies reported by three independent research groups. A linear regression analysis has been employed to determine the degree of correlation between in vitro and in vivo data. Depending on the method of corrosion index measurement and the source of clinical data, correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.82 to 0.94 (p < 01) have been obtained.