21 CFR § 872.3070 - Dental amalgam, mercury, and amalgam alloy.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t21/s872.3070"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "21 CFR § 872.3070 - Dental amalgam, mercury, and amalgam alloy."
title_number: 21
title_name: "Food and Drugs"
section_number: "872.3070"
section_name: "Dental amalgam, mercury, and amalgam alloy."
chapter_name: "FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES"
subchapter_number: "H"
subchapter_name: "MEDICAL DEVICES"
part_number: "872"
part_name: "DENTAL DEVICES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "21 U.S.C. 351, 360, 360c, 360e, 360j, 360 371."
regulatory_source: "52 FR 30097, Aug. 12, 1987, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "872"
---


# 872.3070 Dental amalgam, mercury, and amalgam alloy.

(a) *Identification.* Dental amalgam is a device that consists of a combination of elemental mercury, supplied as a liquid in bulk, sachet, or predosed capsule form, and amalgam alloy composed primarily of silver, tin, and copper, supplied as a powder in bulk, tablet, or predosed capsule form, for the direct filling of carious lesions or structural defects in teeth. This device also includes the individual component devices, mercury and amalgam alloy, when intended to be combined with each other to form dental amalgam.

(b) *Classification.* Class II (special controls). The special control for this device is FDA's “Class II Special Controls Guidance Document: Dental Amalgam, Mercury, and Amalgam Alloy.” *See* § 872.1(e) for the availability of this guidance document.

[74 FR 38714, Aug. 4, 2009]