Is there really an advantage to gold dental fillings?
Several years ago I had a filling come loose and carious, and had to get an onlay. My dentist told me that gold does indeed wear better than just about anything, so that’s what I got, basically replacing about 1mm of the top surface of the tooth. Unfortunately, gold is also much more thermally conductive, and the onlaid tooth was exquisitely cold-sensitive for the entire time I had it. In the end, the sides of the tooth started to crack, and I had to get a more complete onlay. This time I opted for porcelain over a gold base, and the cold sensitivity was much reduced. I’m assuming you are talking about an onlay/crown; gold fillings are usually done with gold foil, and I am given to understand that they are notoriously difficult to learn to do correctly. I have several polymer fillings, and have been nothing but satisified with them.
The dentist I had in Colorado told me gold was preferable because the physical properties of its alloys were the closest to those of your natural teeth. The coefficient of expansion (how much it shrinks and grows as temperature changes) is the same as your natural teeth, so there is less stress and fracturing of the filling. Gold is also easier to use and install, so there is less need to destroy healthy tooth material in order to make the filling fit and hold. When I moved and went to a new dentist, he would call his technicians and assistants in to look at my mouth because of the work of the old dentist and the gold fillings. If you have any fillings of other metals that will be close to your gold fillings, however, be prepared to get shocks from the galvanic effect. It will wear off after a couple of weeks, but it’s like chewing on tinfoil until then.
