Gold hammer filling
The gold hammer filling is a filling technique in dentistry .
The terms gold knocking filling , gold stopper filling or gold foil compaction (English) are also used as synonyms . It is often abbreviated as GHF in dental terminology .
The GHF is rarely used nowadays because it is a very complex type of filling. Furthermore, it is only suitable for small cavities . GHF have an optimal marginal fit and excellent biocompatibility . The GHF has been proven to be the most durable filling in dentistry with a shelf life of more than 30 years. (For comparison: amalgam and composites have a shelf life of around 10 years.)
GHF uses forms of pure gold as foils or "sponges" ( sponge gold ), after preparation by an excavator , which are compressed in the cavity by machine or with hand tampers. Today, the cohesive gold hammer filling with sponge gold ( sintered precipitation of small porous particles) or slightly annealed gold leaf is used. Due to the purity (> 99%), the chemical inertness ( noble metal ) and the easy deformability ( ductility ) of the gold, so-called cold welding occurs during the filling process : the atoms of the gold layers that are stacked or hammered on one another are irreversibly deposited in the characteristic cubic space lattice a homogeneous block. Since the material is introduced into the cavity under pressure, it exerts a slight elastic tension on the cavity edges. When the tooth is deformed under load, marginal gaps do not immediately appear, but the gold takes part in the elastic deformation. This property distinguishes GHF from all other materials and is one of the reasons for its enormous durability.
The GHF is the oldest usable filling technique in dentistry. There are skull finds from the 17th century which show GHF. The rules for the design of tooth cavities (especially for amalgam fillings), which are still taught today, are originally derived from those of gold hammer fillings. GHF is only rarely performed in dentistry. Some of the materials required for this filling can no longer be found in the dental trade. The sponge gold from Degussa is no longer available. The number for the GHF is no longer included in the new fee schedule for dentists that has been in effect since 2012, which can sometimes lead to reimbursement problems for private health insurers.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Hoffmann, Brita Willershausen: Conservative dentistry and periodontology: 66 tables . Georg Thieme Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-13-593703-8 , pp. 198–.