Gold Loses Its Shine in Dentistry Amid Teeth-Whitening Craze
- Teeth-bleaching trend hastens gold's demise as a tooth filler
- Global demand in dentistry fell almost 60% in last five years
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While the popularity of a lily-white smile spawned a billion-dollar business for Procter & Gamble Co., for gold, it’s meant only more bad news.
Until a decade ago, about 67 metric tons of the yellow metal, worth $2.7 billion today, were filling, capping and crowning teeth worldwide annually. In the last five years, though, demand has plunged almost 60 percent, according to the World Gold Council. Dentists blame teeth-whitening.