Microleakage of several amalgam systems: an animal study.

Restorations placed without the application of cavity varnish to the cavity walls and the cavosurface angle exhibited significant marginal leakage after 24 hours and 3 months. At the end of 6 months a decrease in leakage was exhibited with all alloys. With the exception of two specimens, restorations placed after coating the cavity walls and the cavo-surface angle with cavity varnish demonstrated slight or no marginal leakage at all time intervals. The results of this study indicate that the marginal leakage of a conventional filing alloy, a conventional spherical alloy, and two high-copper alloys are approximately the same. The corrosion-resistant high-copper alloys showed the same degree of marginal leakage as the conventional alloys. The results of this study agree with those of a previously reported in vitro study on amalgam leakage.