What is red and white gold?

Pure gold (24 carat) is soft and can not used to make jewels. In India, it is normally 22 carat and in Europe it is 14 carat and very rarely 18 carat.

It is always the metal in the alloy that makes the colour different.

Normally copper, silver and other base metals form the gold alloy.

• Copper is the most common metal and it forms a red alloy.
• 25% copper in the antique created a rose gold.
• Iron alloys with gold gives blue gold.
• Aluminium and gold give purple gold alloy.
• 14 carat and 18carat with silver give a greenish yellow gold.
• The white gold alloy is made with palladium or nickel.

This is the story of gold colours.

We all know about gold jewelleries…What are the other uses of Gold?

Gold is a soft, dense and the most malleable and ductile metal. One gram of gold can be beaten to one square meter sheet. Pure gold has a bright and attractive yellow colour. As a precious metal, for centuries, it has been used as money, crisis-free investment and above all in jewellery. It is also used in the industry as well as in the medicine. Gold dissolves in mercury to form amalgam alloy, but does not react with it.

The uses of gold include:

• In several countries it is a monetary reserve.
• We know its value in jewellery.
• Gold leaf or flakes (E175 in EU) are used in gourmet foods or sweets or in juice or alcoholic fruit drinks.
• In the alternative medicine, it is very often used (e.g., Thanga pashpam).
• It is used in the dentistry to make the crown and bridges.
• Colloidal gold is used as medicine for arthritis.
• It is used as a thin thread in silk sarees and in embroidery works.
• Used in electrical connector and electronic cable.
• Used in computers of the spacecraft and jet aircraft
• Its resistance to corrosion makes it useful in several industries.
• Gold medal is a part of honour-Nobel Prize, Olympic medals, etc.
• It is also the protective coat in artificial satellites as a reflector of electromagnetic radiation.
• Used in high quality CDs

Gold is not toxic and its cyanide salts are poisonous. But, patients who are taking gold as a medicine develop toxic effects and this is approximately 25% of them. Gold plays a role in kidney problems, gold influenza, proteinuria and skin toxicity. In extreme cases, I have seen very strong deposits of metallic gold in the eyes.

In white gold alloy, the nickel present can cause contact allergy problems and persons who are having this problem should be careful with nickel or nickel alloys.

What are the applications of ozone?

Ozone is a pollutant, but it has many industrial applications. They include:.

• As a disinfectant in hospitals, food processing factories and aged care homes
• Water disinfectant in place of chlorine, also in swimming pools
• To kill bacteria in food
• Washing of fresh fruits and vegetables to kill bacteria, mould and yeast
• In chemical synthesis in the industry
• Used to remove the contaminants such as iron, arsenic, hydrogen sulphide and nitrites in water
• Clean and bleach industrial plants.
• In processing plastics
• Ozone is also used in bleaching wood pulp.
• It is also used to detoxify cyanide wastes from gold and silver mining.

There are several other applications because of the high oxidation potential of ozone.

Dental filling materials

When the holes are there in your teeth there are two possibilities, our dentist can fill the holes or if it is so worn out he can make crowns or bridges.

Gold and platinum alloy is a good choice but costs more and ceramic, resin ionomers, resin composite and amalgam are the choices.

Dental amalgam is a stable alloy made of combining elemental mercury, silver, tin, copper and zinc. Many people have no problems for so many years but few have problems and some have really allergy with mercury. It is possible to measure mercury in saliva which gives an idea of the mercury vapours in the mouth.

At first we have to see that mercury is realesed from the amalgam fillings in our mouth. The saliva test for mercury is the right one for this. In the morning before brushing the teeth 3 to 5 ml of saliva is collected in a plastic container. After that sugar free chewing gum is given and ten minutes it must be chewed on the surface of the fillings and after that once again 3 to 5ml saliva is collected in a different container. From these and also from blood and urine mercury is estimated to see the general condition in the body.

Removing amalgam teeth fillings could cause problems. The dentist can remove it by drilling but the problem is a high amount of mercury goes inside the body. Most of the mercury goes inside the tissues and will be stored there.

There are different ways to remove mercury from our body. There is a DMPS (Dimaval; 2,3-dimercapoto-1-propane sulfonate sodium salt) test with which your doctor removes the mercury from your body. DMPS is a chelating agent and it forms a complex with mercury which will be excreted through kidneys. But your kidneys must be healthy. Moreover a large amount of essential elements like copper and zinc will also be excreted from the body because of DMPS chelation. Copper and zinc must also be estimated before the test and supplemented if they are low. But, it is very well manageable.

Palladium is not used for the fillings because of its toxicity. The fillings are normally safe if these are done properly even with amalgam. Gold and platinum are the best.

Galloy is a brand new material containing silver, tin, indium and gallium and it is meant for mercury-free filling material. For the industry, amalgam is supposed to be 100% safe, even then they develop an alternative to amalgam and it is very interesting.

Why should amalgam dental fillings be removed? Few have mercury allergy. A mercury allergy test should be made to see whether you have mercury allergy or not and if you have allergy it is better to remove and go for gold or gold-platinum combination.

We must have our lifestyle in such a way so that our oral health prevents teeth holes.