What happened to gold teeth?

"The value of gold used for industrial purposes and gold teeth
increased from $5.4 billion in 2004 to $6 billion last year." From link
below.

Sounds like someone is still getting gold teeth, I haven't met one for
decades!

Queue...

Could it be that the grills (for teeth) have become so popular that it is
affecting the $ statistics of gold sales for teeth? While I personally don't
have any friends or family with grills, the amount of them I've seen on
people out and about is shocking. I've even seen them with relief sculptures
on them. (I know the wearers think it's cool but in my mind any visible gold
in the front of the mouth is processed by my brain as "ooooh, baaaaad
teeth". )

Jamie...

Do they mean crowns? I have some (recent).

ikr...

Do you throw out your gold teeth? Do you see how they roll?

Stacy Ferguson...

While obvious gold crowns are now unusual, most crowns are gold with a
porcelain overlay because porcelain only crowns are fragile. For front
teeth, porcelain only crowns are a first choice because while they may
be weaker, they're translucent like natural teeth and don't stick out as
"fake". Opacity of molar crowns isn't as big a deal esthetically because
they aren't as visible and light transparency isn't as big an issue in
the dark parts of one's mouth.

casioculture...

Why gold? Why don't they use aluminum or some other metal?

EMiriamD...

Purity and durability.

Jamie...

My thoughts exactly.

Why are you so interested in this subject?

Charlie Perrin...

Mainly nonreactivity.