Silver Rises Over 120% YTD 
Published: 09-29-2026, 05:30 pm
Gold in medicine goes beyond jewelry. Dentists cast it into crowns for a century. Surgeons implant a radioactive form of it into tumors. Rheumatologists prescribe an oral gold compound for arthritis. Furthermore, gold nanoparticles are why a home pregnancy test or a COVID rapid test shows a visible line. These are real, documented medical uses, not folklore. Each comes from the same traits: gold resists corrosion, it does not react inside the body, and it bonds easily to other molecules.
Key Takeaways
- Dentists have used gold alloys in crowns and fillings since the late 1800s because gold resists corrosion and wears at nearly the same rate as tooth enamel.
- Gold-198 is a radioactive isotope with a half-life of roughly 2.7 days. Surgeons have implanted it directly into tumors since 1965 as a targeted radiation source.
- Auranofin, an oral gold compound, has treated rheumatoid arthritis since the 1980s and is now studied against several cancers.
- Gold nanoparticles are the working part of most rapid diagnostic strips, including pregnancy tests and COVID-19 antigen tests.
- Dentistry used just 8.2 tonnes of gold in 2025 [World Gold Council], against total demand above 5,000 tonnes. Medicine barely registers in gold’s overall demand picture.
Why Is Gold Used in Dentistry?
Gold has served dental patients since antiquity. Archaeologists have documented gold dental bands among the Etruscans dating to roughly 630 BCE [Wikipedia: Gold Teeth, sourced to Britannica and the WSJ]. These early bands held replacement teeth in place. Gold’s modern dental career, however, began in the late 19th century, when dentists started casting it into fillings and crowns.
The reason is about function, not looks. Pure gold is too soft for chewing, so dentists use alloys, typically 60 to 78 percent gold mixed with palladium or copper [Wikipedia: Crown (dental restoration)]. As a result, a gold crown wears down at almost the same rate as the enamel on the opposing tooth. It never grinds that tooth down the way a harder ceramic can. It also resists acids in food and saliva better than base metals do. Consequently, a well-placed gold crown can last 15 to 30 years [Garfield Refining].
Gold’s dental use has declined as ceramics improved, but dentists still choose it for back molars and for patients who grind their teeth.
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How Is Gold Used in Surgery and Medical Implants?
Gold’s biggest surgical role is in cancer treatment, specifically brachytherapy. This technique places a radiation source directly inside or next to a tumor. Surgeons at Baylor College of Medicine began implanting Au-198, a radioactive isotope of gold, into prostate tumors in 1965 [Baylor College of Medicine clinical record]. Gold-198 decays with a half-life of about 2.7 days. As it decays, it releases radiation that treats the tumor from the inside, sparing more surrounding tissue than external beams can [Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy].
Researchers are now shrinking that isotope to nanoparticle scale for a more even tumor dose than a single seed delivers [Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences]. Non-radioactive gold appears in other surgical hardware too, but not always where expected. Its conductivity and corrosion resistance suit it to circuitry inside pacemakers and defibrillators, and thin gold markers let surgeons see a stent’s position on an X-ray. One use failed: gold coatings tried directly on stent surfaces in the early 2000s raised the risk of re-narrowing versus plain steel in randomized trials, and doctors dropped the approach.
What Is Gold Used for in Pharmaceutical Treatments?
Doctors have treated rheumatoid arthritis with gold compounds since the 1930s, a practice called chrysotherapy. Its modern form, auranofin, reached the U.S. market in the 1980s. Clinical comparisons found its effectiveness comparable to injectable gold and D-penicillamine, with far fewer dropouts from side effects [Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine].
Researchers have since studied auranofin as a cancer drug candidate. It works by blocking an enzyme called thioredoxin reductase, which many aggressive tumors depend on, and has shown activity against ovarian, lung, and pancreatic cancer cells in lab studies [PMC oncology literature]. That does not make it a cancer cure today; it remains primarily an arthritis drug under investigation, and any treatment decision belongs with a licensed physician.
How Do Gold Nanoparticles Work in Medical Diagnostics?
Here is where most people unknowingly encounter gold in medicine every week. Lateral flow tests, the paper-strip diagnostics behind pregnancy tests and COVID-19 antigen tests, rely on gold nanoparticles as their visible signal. Manufacturers coat the particles with antibodies tuned to a specific target, such as a pregnancy hormone or a viral protein. A sample crossing that coated zone makes the particles cluster into a visible line, with no electricity or lab instrument needed [PMC and Nature Scientific Reports lateral flow assay studies].
Gold works for this job for the same reason it works in a crown. It barely reacts with anything, so it stays stable and visible instead of degrading before a result appears. That reliability is why the technology scaled so fast during the pandemic. It remains the default choice for at-home diagnostics today.
Does Gold in Medicine Affect Its Value as an Investment?
It is tempting to read all this as a new demand story for gold prices, but the numbers argue otherwise. Dentistry used 8.2 tonnes of gold in 2025, part of a broader technology category of 322.8 tonnes. Total global demand that year was 5,002.3 tonnes [World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Full Year 2025]. Medicine, in other words, is a rounding error next to gold’s real demand driver.
That is precisely the point. Gold’s industrial and medical use sits at roughly 6 percent of annual demand [World Gold Council: 322.8 of 5,002.3 tonnes]. Most demand is monetary instead: store of value, reserves, and jewelry held as savings, not raw material used up in a factory or clinic. So gold’s price does not move on dental statistics. It moves on real yields, currency strength, and confidence in fiat money. What these medical uses actually prove is something else entirely. Notably, the same chemical stability is at work in both cases. It keeps a crown from corroding for twenty years, and it has kept gold from corroding in a vault for millennia. Utility and durability reinforce the case for gold as sound money. They do not compete with it.
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People Also Ask
Yes, in the specific forms medicine uses. Dental gold alloys and drugs like auranofin have decades of clinical use behind them, though a licensed physician or dentist should manage any gold-based treatment.
It wears at nearly the same rate as natural enamel, so it protects the opposing tooth. It costs more upfront but often outlasts cheaper alternatives.
Yes. Surgeons have placed radioactive gold-198 seeds into tumors since 1965, and researchers are studying auranofin, an arthritis drug, against several cancers.
A tiny amount, in nanograms, but it does the essential work: the gold nanoparticles produce the visible line, not just a coating.
SOURCES
1. World Gold Council — Gold Demand Trends Full Year 2025
2. Wikipedia — Gold Teeth, sourced to the Wall Street Journal and Encyclopaedia Britannica
3. Wikipedia — Crown (dental restoration)
4. Garfield Refining — The History of Dental Gold
5. Baylor College of Medicine — gold seed implantation clinical record
6. Journal of Contemporary Brachytherapy — Au-198 nanoparticle dosimetry study
7. Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences — Synthesis of Au-198 nanoparticles for radiotherapy
8. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine — Oral chrysotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis: auranofin
9. PMC — Auranofin combination therapy in oncology, peer-reviewed review
10. PMC / Nature Scientific Reports — gold nanoparticle lateral flow assay studies
11. Circulation / American Journal of Cardiology — randomized trials on gold-coated coronary stents
12. U.S. Geological Survey — Metals and Minerals in Medical Implants
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
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