Dental Gold Education Central

Dental gold has been used in modern day dentistry for filling cavities, making crowns, inlays and partials before mercury amalgam became available.

Gold has many properties that have made it advantageous for the use in dental restoration most notably it's immunity to corrosion, malleability and the ability to form it into a number of different shapes.

Gold has the strength to be used as a biting surface and and last many, many years.

History

Gold has been used as far back as 500 B.C. in the form of early dental bridges, when these bridges were unearthed some 2000 years later they still retained their gold color and remained corrosion free!

It was not until approximately 1500 A.D that gold foil or leaf was in restoration dental projects in Italy.

The first use of dental amalgam or silver filling was in France in the early 1800's. The 1900's brought us other composite materials and cements.

Gold was used before silver was available and continued to be used for specialized purposes. After 1980, gold inlays, and gold foil work became rarer in the United States.

Dental Alloys Today

Dental gold used today can contain many complex alloys and come in a variety of mixtures. Some dental alloys can contain as little as 2% Gold (AU) or go up to as high as 88% Gold (AU).

Alloys can be used in fillings, crown, inlay and bridges. Softer mixtures (mixtures containing a high percentage of gold) are used for applications such as single surface inlays. More economical (more commonly used) alloys can be used in inlays, partials, bridges and denture partials.

Some of the more common elements used to make up dental alloys are:

• Au Gold
• Ag / Silver
• Cu / Copper
• In / Indium
• Ir / Iridium
• Pa / Protactinium
• Pd / Palladium
• Pt / Platinum
• Rh / Rhodium
• Ru / Ruthenium
• Zn / Zinc

Cosmetic Uses

Dental gold and gold teeth are seen as status symbols and a sign of wealth in many countries i.e. Asia, Russia and Central Asia.

Grills, sometimes spelled 'Grillz' have been made popular in the U.S. and other parts of the world through the 'hiphop' culture. Most Grills are removable gold teeth caps while others have them permanently attached to their teeth.

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For more information or to ask questions about dental gold please see our dental gold buyers page.