Dental amalgam is brought to the United…

Dental amalgam is brought to the United States by the Crawcour brothers, two French entrepreneurs who open an office in New York to fill teeth in 1833.

Before the amalgam introduced by them, the two main options had been having teeth completely removed, or a long appointment before having hot gold hammered into the tooth.

The Crawcour brothers avoid calling attention to the mercury in their "silver" fillings, calling them "mineral succedaneum,” or "royal mineral succedaneum,” which the public associates with gold.

As the brothers have no dental training whatsoever many dentists denounce this practice, warning that mercury is poisonous.

The brothers' business is unaffected, however.

In spite of the criticisms that will later form the basis of the anti-amalgam movement, the Crawcour brothers successfully treat large numbers of patients, none of whom develop the symptoms of mercury poisoning.

In 1603, a German named Tobias Dorn Kreilius had described a process for creating an amalgam filling by dissolving copper sulfide with strong acids, adding mercury, bringing to a boil, and then pouring onto the teeth.

In France, D'Arcet's Mineral Cement was popular, but it had to be boiled into a liquid before being poured on patients' teeth.

Louis Regnart had added mercury to the mixture, lowering the temperature required significantly, and for this had become known as the "Father of Amalgam.”

Auguste Taveau in France had placed amalgam as early as 1826, although he had developed it in 1816.