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Gold Crowns vs. PFM

posted in Restoration of Dental Implants, Mini Dental Implants Discussions

« 4 Implants in the Mandibular Anterior Area? | Internal Vs. External Hex? »

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Keith from California asks:

I have the impression that, in absence of aesthetic considerations, gold crowns are superior to PFMs on natural teeth and on dental implants. Is this accurate?

Also, can gold crowns be used on free-standing, single-tooth and
mini dental implants? Are there any contra-indications to using gold crowns for this purpose?

14 Responses to “ Gold Crowns vs. PFM ”

• satish joshi October 17th, 2006

  
  

  if esthetics dose not come in to picture,precious gold crowns restorations are THE BEST REGARDLESS OF TYPE OF RESTORATIONS,INLAY,ONLAY,SINGLE ,MULTIPLE,NATRAL TOOTH, IMPLANTS, MINI,MICRO,WIDE.

• ira n dickerman, cdt October 17th, 2006

  
  

  Agreed gold endures forever. I have never had a gold crown that we have made chip or crack.

• Alejandro Berg October 17th, 2006

  
  

  If you can place a crown you can use a gold one…. to me the best when there is no esthetic consideration

• Richard Wiggs October 17th, 2006

  
  

  Gold is premier restorative material if aesthetics is not a factor. A gold onlay is my choice for over 5 decades since it does not disturb the buccal and lingual gingiva.

• SMSDDSMDT October 17th, 2006

  
  

  When asking what is best,,ask best for what. The only negative to gold is esthetic considerations. Or galvanic issues, which are usually not long lasting. To me besides longevity is its wear rates in the oral environment.It has the properties of wear not so different from tooth structure. This is called adhesive or smear wear, like enemal. This is very important for our implant supported restorations. We want them to wear at similiar rates as tooth substance so that the occluding surfaces are more maintainable over time. Harder materials , more brittle materials have different wear qualities such as abrassive wear which will damage tooth substance. In a nut shell a feldspathic restoration can be left high on the bite by having a slower wear rate than gold vs. tooth material. I use gold when ever I can. The wear properties are great. It also lends it self to have a better energy loss coeficient and a degree shock absorption.It will also lend itself to screw retained systems better than ceramic of any form.

• Gary D Kitzis DMD October 18th, 2006

  
  

  If esthetics is not a concern, use a gold crown. It is the most durable restorative material, and it will not prematurely wear the opposing teeth or restorations.

• montana-pros October 27th, 2006

  
  

  Gold for posteriors is Gold standard.
  PFM is good for the rest of the mouth, depends the quality of the porcelain, strength, coefficient of thermal expansion of porcelain to metal.
  Don Cornell and many others do awesome work with PFM.
  I believe we the use of all ceramic is good for single units or 3 units.
  More studies and research is necessary before we go with the flow with companies pushing use full mouth zirconia(procera) , research show the are brittle and have high crack propogation.( why you think they came up with Nobel Rondo recently)
  Porcelain can’t stick to the thing.
  I wouldn’t run and do full mouth Dicors and have them all crack,and have a pretty upset patient.Case selection counts when and where in the mouth.
  I hope this helps.

• Dr. Richard WIggs July 25th, 2008

  
  

  Have observed a dramatic reduction in peri-implantitis and bone die-back when restoring implants with one of several very hard composite materials bonded to the gold abutment or crown, providing a subtle reduction in occlusal stress to the implant body. I also have patients swish with an anti-inflammatory natural mangosteen juice before swallowing.

• Dr. Richard WIggs July 25th, 2008

  
  

  I have recently switched prosthetic implant restorations from gold or PFM to vary hard composite materials bonded to the abutment or to the crown. I sense this provides a subtle reduction in the occlusal impact upon the implant body. The reports of occlusal wear upon these restorations is negative.

• John Barry August 13th, 2008

  
  

  Can a gold crown crack? I bit down on a fragment of a peach pit tonight hidden in a fruit salad. My back bottom right molar has a gold crown. Above it is a porcelin bridge. The whole area hurt at the moment. Hours later nothing hurt, then when I drank some cold water I felt discomfort from the gold crown. I looked at it and cannot tell if it is cracked or not but it looks as though there is a jagged white line on the bite portion of the molar. Thank you for any advice.

• june August 23rd, 2008

  
  

  need old gold molars redone. They are at least 35 years old and have holes now. I have looked in to this and have decided to go with gold again. They are far enough back in my mouth so will not show…so gold is what I will go with.

• brian rhoades December 15th, 2009

  
  

  hello i agree gold is absolute best but i caution you that there are some very tricky laws when it comes to gold. you can call something gold that is reffering to its color but it may not have any gold in it at all.few labs still offer real gold because of its cost for example today’s gold market is $1124 per oz but the cost goes up because it is first processed by a dental manufacturer before its sold to to lab for more like $1350 per oz
  average molar crown is about 3 dwts, and there are 20 dwts per oz simple math means you would be paying $202.00 just for the gold not including lab fees to make the crown puts you at more like $320-$350 per crown for a read gold crown. there are many metals that look like gold but are not.they are mostly copper and nickle, and with many allergy’s to nickle it makes it not so bio-completable any more. the good news is the law states that you can not claim something is real gold if it is not, but they are not obligated to tell if you don’t ask. so just ask the lab to send you a sticker with each case showing the gold content of the metal
  if it is real gold they will be more then happy to do this. also they are not obligated to tell you if the case is outsorced to another country but that is anther conversation.

• brian rhoades December 15th, 2009

  
  

  to: montana-pros
  procera bridges are just single units glued together with special glue
  the problem is the glue is not as strong as the procera coping that is your week link! just ask your lab if they are honest they will tell you.

• shawn syd January 22nd, 2010

  
  

  let’s not forget, less tooth reduction is needed for a cast alloy vs. porcelain restoration.

  yes, the price of gold is rising. here are the specs for a HIGH NOBLE CAST GOLD RESTORATION: 60% content of noble metals (gold, platnum, paladium) with at least 40% of the alloy being gold. i came accross a high noble alloy with 46% gold for my dental board exam. it was beautiful. every lab tech that has worked with the alloy said they really liked working with that alloy. they work with all kinds of alloys everyday; they would know good alloys from bad ones. this has been the only alloy i have used for full gold crowns (actually catagorized as a type III high noble alloy). when i do onlays i use a type II alloy for a higher (softer) gold content. a 46% gold alloy crown is an easier lab bill to see vs. 75-80% gold crown

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