There's gold in them thar teeth!
Icollecteverything
Posts: 1,031 ✭✭✭
On friday I went to get a tooth pulled and planned on saving the gold crown to add to my small collection of scrap. When the dentist was told I wanted to save it he tried to tell me there was very little gold in it because gold is very soft so it's mostly other metals. I agreed that pure gold is soft but that by adding other alloys it can become very hard. The weird thing is he seemed to get angry that I was keeping it it . I know that getting teeth pulled is not supposed to be a picnic but it seemed he was really in a rush and seemed to be extra rough from the novocaine injections all the way thru the stitches.
The crown was on a molar, second from the back so it is quite large. I guess he must have a big bag of gold teeth he has talked other people out of but he didn't get mine. Now I don't think I can go back there since he obviously knew what he was doing and lied to me to try to get a free bonus.
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
Comments
I’d definitely find a new dentist.
Your teeth, your gold, and now your EX-dentist.
IMO
Many scrappers don't take teeth unless they are free of bacteria and etc. My dentist has a service that comes around and pays him for his gold crowns. They pay almost nothing but he does make a few bucks. I explained he was getting screwed and he thought I was probably right. So, I made a deal. The next time he had a bunch to sell let me have it and we'll split it 50/50 after I clean and process to sell. I wrote him a check for about $1,300 after all said and done. He was flabbergasted as he said that he would have gotten $200 for that amount from the "service" he's used for years.
I did not offer to do it again and still go to him.
I said you need to have one of your kids clean and then you send to refiner, instead of me. Gave him a card to Midwest Refineries. Have never asked if he does it himself or sells to the service.
bob
PS: The crowns tested out at 17+ karat when all said and done.
You ought to turn around the situation and asked if you can get/ buy his surplus of gold teeth since he claimed it's almost worthless.
So how much $$$ in gold are we talking about in a typical gold teeth?
The bigger the hunk the more PM (fillings vs crowns vs bridges vs etc.) It is an alloy so the purity varies greatly and there is usually other PM (Ag, Pd).
One thing I do know is the PM value is nowhere near the price paid (by insurance or self) to the dentist.
The crowns and bridges would cost you/insurer lots more if they were 95% gold.
I had so many people bringing in teeth that I kept a hammer and sent them outside to crack the gold out.
A dentist could accumulate enough gold fillings over time...if he had a really large clientele...Still a fair amount of work to get down to the gold...Cheers, RickO
Great story, thanks for sharing !!!
As a dentist I always offer the gold crowns back to the patients. Most decline especially when they have a bloody tooth attached. About once a year I take all the gold from my office and several good friends offices and we get it refined. Usually pays for a great fishing trip for the group. This year swordfishing in the gulf for 4 days
Thanks for all the responses.
I have an idea for separating the gold from the teeth in case anyone has tried this. Often when a metal part like a nut can't be budged you can heat up the metal which expands and then it can be loosened. What if I put the crowns in the freezer and then drop them into boiling water? If that fails, maybe a torch? Yes I always wear safety glasses, can't count how many times they saved my eyeballs.
Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.
I bought 3 different stashes from retiring dentists.
Substantial.
The real scuzz is funeral homes. They put boiler plate wording in their contracts that they don't remove metal and then they parenthesize hinges, joints, etc.
That etc. covers the gold fillings they steal. Real scumbuckets.
They ....will... allow removal by survivors if they send a dentist to the funeral home.
They get away with it due to the stress the families are going through and won't challenge.
I have a dentist customer or two who I melt dental for. I know how they aquire it. Most of the time by just not mentioning it to the customer. Little do they know there's more than just gold to be extracted. Last batch I melted I ended up with 3.5ozt of palladium. It was a large lot.
I use a high end induction furnace for my lots. No cleaning or sorting of any kind on my end.
I inherited my mom's messed up gums. So for the past 10 years or so, I've had to go to the dentist 4 times a year for deep "scaling and planing". That's a 1-2 hour procedure where the dental hygienist carefully shoves a steel pick as far down onto every one of your tooth roots as she can get, and then lovingly scrapes and scrapes every millimeter of the root that she can reach; front, back, and sides.
I don't have any tattoos. I'm a precious metals fanatic. And I have to undergo pretty awful procedures every few months. So I decided a few years that I'd own my pain: when I had to get my first crown I decided that I'd only get gold crowns. I'm up to four now. Fortunately, the torturer, er, dentist I go to is one of the few in this part of the state who still does gold crowns.
Yes, I ask to see the alloy mix. Yes, I take my digital scale in with me when I'm getting a crown. Yes, I have HUGE teeth
** Harmony 55: **
Composition
Au 55.0
Pd 5.2
Ag 30.0
Cu 9.0
In < 1.0
Ir < 1.0
http://www.ivoclarvivadent.com/en/p/all/products/alloys/crown-bridge-alloys/reduced-gold-content/harmony-cb-55
--Severian the Lame
I've got 4 as well Weiss. I describe each one as getting roundhouse kicked in the face by Chuck Norris.
I opted for white gold though as el dentisto wouldn't use some peso gold I offered up for the mix, ha!
@Weiss
“...a steel pick as far down onto every one of your tooth roots as she can get, and then lovingly scrapes and scrapes every millimeter of the root...”
Wish there was a super ‘Ouch’ button.
As one who has gone through a root canal, I winced at each word and my brain triggered a metal taste in my mouth.
The wonders of the various nerve pain blockers. Until it wears off.
What's fun is being a redhead, with a need for 1.5-2x as much novacaine. The first time my current dentist figured it out was about halfway through the first crown core procedure. Got that drill nerve pain good and I damn near elbowed his hand out of my mouth.
No novocaine, either. If I remember to take an Ibuprofen 30 minutes before, it seems to help.
I had a root canal on one of my gold crowns last year. Zero pain, zero recovery time. Had a wisdom tooth removed maybe 2 or 3 years back. Took less than 30 minutes and I was back home with zero pain even a day or two after.
But scaling and planing stays with you for a good five or six hours after.
--Severian the Lame
So far, my teeth are in tact, but if I need a crown or implant, I’ll go with gold for sure. Even in my smile line.
I’ve been told that gold is used because it takes a shock better than other materials. Like if you happen to bite a bone or a seed.
Then I’d simply just ask for them back when it’s time. My guys have an in house crown machine now, but pretty sure they could get me gold if I wanted.
Local BM shop has a hammer and anvil right behind counter, few taps, done deal.
@DrBuster @Weiss
Oh, the pain! I can almost feel it again and it’s been around 20+ years. Somethings don’t go away and just become a memory. Unless there’s a trigger then it becomes a vivid almost can feel it again kind of thing. Going to find something more pleasant to read... like the tax code.
Dentists will usually be happy to give you the gold they remove.
They will also happily substitute root beer for the novocaine.
How much work was it for you? Worth the trouble? It sounds like something possibly worth continuing.
@thisistheshow
Not much work as I have the burners, mortar and pestle and gold pan for panning out the gold. There is a lot of tooth matter, amalgum (sp) etc.
First thing I did was to put the material in a pot of water and boil it all for 20 minutes. Then into the mortar and start separating gold from teeth, glue, etc. Once that is done into the pan and onto the stove for heating again for at least 5 minutes. Then into the pan and start panning. Back to mortar and then back to pan. Usually pretty clean by now and then off to the smelter. Took my time and did it in an afternoon.
If I had a bunch of sources (dentists) you could make a living doing it. Get a tumbler with steel balls for crushing (mortar and pestle is a bitch) and you'd be set.
bob
PS: I think gold crowns are getting fewer and fewer with porcelain now so prevalent.
bob
@Weiss
I'm surprised that is only 14k. Need to ask for better quality to last longer..
bob