A silver staining technique for investigating wear of restorative dental composites.

A silver staining technique was developed to demonstrate microdefects in dental restorative composites. Fine silver particles were preferentially introduced into the damaged region to provide optical contrast between the damaged and the undamaged regions. The amount of silver deposition determined with an electron probe microanalyzer, provided an indication of the extent of damage within the dental composites. Examples to demonstrate this technique were given with one clinically worn dental composite restoration and one in vitro worn composite sample.