Dental restorations are prepared by preparing a cavity within a carious tooth for receiving a dental amalgam filling;Coating the surfaces of the cavity with a layer of an adhesive-metal lining composition, the metal of the composition being characterized by the capability of being amalgamated by diffusion of the mercury from a subsequently applied dental amalgam filling, and which is further characterized by a corrosion resistance which is higher than the corrosion resistance of the subsequently applied dental amalgam filling; and packing the remaining adhesive-metal coated cavity with Ag-Hg-Sn dental amalgam, whereby free mercury present in the amalgam is diffused into, and amalgamates with the metal of the adhesive-metal lining coating, so as to form an integral restoration of the dental amalgam and the coating, and the adhesive effectively promotes bonding between the integral restoration and the cavity surfaces.