Dental Amalgam as a Magnet Coating?
Hello, Resident newbie. ^^
A question to pose to those of you who play around with TiN coatings and/or happen to be intimately familiar with the nature of coating Magnets/other things for implanting. I have no idea if it's been considered, but would dental amalgam be anything worth looking into? I'm familiar that during it's setting, it releases mercury fumes, which are obviously toxic.
At the same time, however... Cut me a little slack, I know i have sugar problems.Candy is good. >~< But I've had fillings for over a decade that don't seem to be weak by any means. They have a pretty long track record... that may be starting to be usurped, maybe? Not horribly sure.
Not intimately knowledgeable about dental or the bodies chemical structure, especially inside of tissues. But Ideas?
Comments
It's an alloy of Hg with some Ag, Sn, Cu, and a few other tiny amounts of other minor elements. I'm aware that neither Gold or Silver are an ideal coating, Silver not being Biocompatible, Gold being soft and easy to scratch.
Amalgam is this stuff:
https://www.google.com/search?q=amalgam&biw=1600&bih=708&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY6Y7Xx9TKAhUW9mMKHd2ADwQQ_AUIBigB
But there are also people who have had amalgam fillings for decades with no measured ill effects. I do not know for certain, but the mouth tends to be pretty effective at breaking things down both mechanically and chemically.
It does pose the hazard from mercury dissolution into the body, But maybe there is a way to reduce the mercury content in the alloy to much safer levels? or perhaps a way to bond it more efficiently? And if I recall correctly, the body takes about two months to expel mercury in the body. The concentration, if any, mercury released may be minimal enough to have no impact.
Our bodies are also natively exposed to mercury in the native environment of the planet. it is a naturally occurring element, having a small native amount in ourselves is not at all unheard of, from what I am aware.
But yes, one of it's man components is toxic. that is one of it's severe downfalls, and part of the engineering challenge of 'is it safe'.
The dental field moving away from it is kinda a split thing in my head. There is evidence on both sides that 'it's good' 'it's bad', but many studies I have read show that the people worst off In terms of mercury exposure are the dentists who apply the fillings. :s I personally have had amalgam filling for a long time in my so far short life, but five years later doing blood testing, there was never ever any mention of mercury being abnormal. And I have a lot of amalgam fillings. >~<
This isn't anything I myself am going to try, but if anyone cares to do measurements or tests... well... In regards to it's mechanical properties, it may be quite durable and strong for an implant. Amalgams do tend to outlive the resins and the more organic-looking repairs.
I do know that the implanted magnets have no trouble breaking if they are plated with gold or thin layers of glass or resin or any other number of attempts that have been fractured open. I am not saying that it may be overkill, that your body instead will be receiving all of the trauma. but in the case of someone having an allergy or maybe the components inside are highly sensitive or toxic, this may create a situation of 'Well it destroyed/hurt x body location, but at least its intact". again, provided it's that strong.
I'm just attempting to suggest an alternate type of coating, should it be found able to be applied to a surface, and that such coating could be made very little, if toxic, at all.
It may be pricy to have the amalgam engineered, but there's some really smart people here who may have an ability to possibly synthesize it or other alloys of it rather 'easily' compared to myself. Again, an idea to toy with. ^^
Mainly atm a fusser grade vacuum pump and chamber for less than $50 if not $100, That will be done when I get off my ass and actually put everything together. I have a more or less a pile of crap for this none of which I have the time to assemble atm. I love making things that are super simple profoundly complex.
http://forum.biohack.me/discussion/1303/eeg-guitar-updates#Item_1
I would like to hear your thoughts on my design.