Why I Chose Gold: Six Teeth and a Hard Life

Why I Chose Gold: Six Teeth and a Hard Life

I have never had a cavity. I have still broken six teeth.

The Ledger

I brush. I floss. I have never had a cavity in my life.

I have also spent that life outside. Crashes. Hits. A helmet coming off worse than I did. Falls I do not talk about and one or two I do. Teeth chip and crack for reasons that have nothing to do with hygiene, and mine did, six of them over the last three years.

The first repair went to gold because I liked the look of it. Every repair after that went to gold because I had read the material by then, and there was no argument left to have.

Gold Was the First Dental Material

This is not a new idea. The Etruscans were using gold bands to hold replacement teeth roughly twenty seven hundred years ago, and the Romans thought highly enough of the metal to do the same. Modern dentistry picked it up in the late 1800s for the same reasons: it is durable, it is workable, and the body does not fight it.

From the 1930s through the 1980s, high noble alloys, at least sixty percent precious metal with gold as the main component, were simply the standard for a crown. Porcelain fused to metal arrived in the 1950s, all ceramic in the 1980s, and the trade moved toward materials that look like teeth. Then gold got expensive, and the move accelerated.

But ask a dentist which material lasts longest and you will usually get one answer.

Why It Is Still the Best

Longevity. A gold crown routinely goes twenty years and beyond. Porcelain and ceramic generally run ten to fifteen. Gold restorations have been documented lasting a lifetime.

It saves more of your tooth. Gold can be worked thin and still hold, so the dentist has to grind away less of the tooth to seat the crown. Porcelain and ceramic need more bulk, which means more of your own tooth goes in the bin. Whatever is left of the original is worth protecting.

It protects the tooth on the other side. This is the argument nobody hears and the one that matters most. Gold wears at a rate close to natural enamel, so it slides against the opposing tooth without chewing it up. Some ceramics are harder than enamel and will slowly grind down the healthy tooth biting against them. A crown that destroys its neighbor is not a repair.

It flexes instead of chipping. Under load, gold gives slightly. Ceramic under the same load cracks. On a molar doing the heavy work, that difference is everything, and it matters more if you clench or grind, which most men who work hard do.

It does not corrode and the body accepts it. A mouth is warm, wet and acidic. Gold does not care. Allergic reaction to gold alloy is rare.

It expands and contracts like a tooth. Gold's rate of thermal expansion is close to that of dentin, so hot coffee and cold water do not open a gap at the margin. A sealed margin is what keeps decay from starting underneath the work.

One correction. No dental gold is pure. Pure gold is far too soft to survive a bite, so it is always an alloy.

The Rule Underneath It

I did not choose gold to be seen. I chose it because when I asked what material does this job best, the answer was clear, and I have never been able to unsee an answer like that.

It is the same rule I use for everything. Denim from Okayama because that is where the best selvedge is woven. Tweed from the Outer Hebrides because the law there guarantees what it is. Leather from a tannery that has spent a century learning hides. Down and shell fabric from Japan. Terry sewn in Seattle because that is where it can be made best.

Pick by the job, not by the fashion, not by the convenience, and not by what will be easier to sell. Then live with it for twenty years and be glad.

I smile now with a mouth full of the oldest, toughest material in the trade. There are worse ways to carry a hard life.

A Way Of Life.

Shop the Story

The Limited Edition GOLD Black Bear Brand LOGO T

The Black Bear Brand ONE Jean Jacket, stitched with bright gold thread

Shop all t-shirts

How to Build a Wardrobe That Lasts a Lifetime

Black Bear Means Long Wear: The 1914 Factory and the Brand I Brought Back