Gold teeth

[Yakattack]

I have just had my gold crown taken out (too much decay underneath) Are they made from real gold if so has my (already) rich dentist got a bit richer as he kept it?

[sandyRoe]

Why don't you ask for it back?

[Yakattack]

In case its not made of gold I might upset him....and your dentist is one person you dont upset

[Nibble]

According to http://en.wikipedia.o...iki/Crown_(dentistry)

Full gold crowns (FGCs) consist entirely of a single piece of alloy. Although referred to as a gold crown, this type of crown is actually composed of many different types of elements, including but not limited to gold, platinum, palladium, silver, copper and tin. The first three elements listed are noble metals, while the last three listed are base metals. Full gold crowns are of better quality when they are high in noble content. According to the American Dental Association, full gold crown alloys can only be labeled as high noble when they contain at least 60% noble metal, of which at least 40% must be gold.

So sorry, not much money to be had from an ex-crown, and from your dentists point of view no monetary return to be had extracting the "gold" either - too little gold & too much trouble.

[jno]

oh, so it's only platinum...

[Brinjal]

only platinum! while there is nothing to be recovered from the crown platinum is a valuable metal? About $100.00 us difference per ounce

[jno]

er, yes, Brinjal, I know...

[B00]

hehe, *whooosh!*

[mrs_overall]

This post has made me realise that one of my neighbours may well be worth mugging

[maggie01]

A friend of mine bought a box of old stamps and rummaging through them found a gold tooth. We both took sold old jewellery to sell one day and she took the tooth along also. I believe she got about £70 for it so I would have asked for it back just encase.

[mrs_overall]

That has decided me. I am going to pop in to check on the neighbour.
Now, where did I put my pliers?

[jno]

better put something in your will about letting your family help themselves to spare parts before your body goes to science, mrs o.

[mrs_overall]

I don't think my family will donate my body to science.
I think they'll get a decent price from Ripleys Believe it or Believe it Not Museum

[J9PUR]

Nibble's post is quite correct - there is very little value in scrap crowns even with the high current prices of gold. Most dentists will use a licensed scrap dealer to purchase the scrap crowns every few months. The dealers do not sort the crowns before purchase, they are simply weighed and a sum is paid for the 'job lot'. This works out at approximately £1-£2 per crown.

If you would like the crown, I'm sure your dentist would let you have it.