Pages: 27-37 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp2562737
The article reports the results of analyzing an amalgam filling in a tooth that belonged to an individual buried during the Red Terror of 1918—1921 at the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. The main goal of the study was to examine postmortem changes in the amalgam that occurred in situ over nearly 90 years. The study included: 1) a visual assessment of the mineral composition of the carious cavity, 2) an X-ray of the molar with the filling, and 3) instrumental analysis of the changes in the filling and the tooth itself using scanning electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis. The analysis of the filling’s composition showed that the amalgam mainly consists of copper and contains no traces of silver; the drops of mercury found in the open carious cavity were the result of a natural chemical process occurring within the filling.
Keywords: amalgam, mercury, history of dentistry, burials in the Peter and Paul Fortress in 1917—1921
Information about authors:
Natalia Leibova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Lenin Ave., 32-A, Moscow, 119334, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-0635-0725
Igor Pekov (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Leninskie Gory 1, 119991, Moscow, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Vasily Yapaskurt (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences. Faculty of Geology, Lomonosov Moscow State University. Leninskie Gory 1, 119991, Moscow, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Inessa Masterova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Medical Sciences. Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (PFUR) named after Patrice Lumumba. Miklukho-Maklaya St., 6, Moscow, 117198, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-4636-4622