well, its buried in the mix like gravel in concrete as opposed to being a part of an alloy. different materials have different stuff in it, but i believe the diamondlite in my mouth has aluminum buried in it. a far cry from mercury. there is nothing a dentiest does that does not have risk, nothing they do that is not harmful in some way, no material they use that is safe. i thought everybody knew that! like MH says, dentists make the work for the doctors.