gutta-percha

n the juice of an ever-green Malaysian tree, which is hard at room temperature but becomes soft and elastic when heated in hot water. On cooling, gutta-percha will retain any deformity imparted to it when hot; thus it was used in dentistry as an impression material and as a temporary filling material. It has been superseded for these purposes by better materials, but is still used in the form of gutta-percha points as the principal core of root filling