The Baby Boom generation is approaching retirement, and the aging of the US population is putting more pressure on the nation’s healthcare system, dentistry included. As the ADA points out, dentists will be treating an increasingly large number of older patients in the coming years. These older patients are more likely to have gold crowns and fillings than younger ones, and that means more extractions of teeth containing this precious metal.
The Use of Gold in Dentistry
Gold is still used in dentistry, of course, but dentists and patients have a few different materials to choose from these days. One of those materials, composite resin, has overtaken gold as the most popular choice among patients, mainly because it is the same color as the tooth and is far less conspicuous than a gold filling.
Despite these scientific advances, gold is still the best thing we’ve got for dental work. It’s an inert metal, non-toxic and does nonreactive with other compounds. It also does not rust or tarnish. Dental gold is usually a 14k alloy containing silver and palladium, two other inert precious metals. This alloy won’t crack, expand, or contract, and it is strong, lasting longer than other filling materials. We’ve known about the usefulness of gold in dental work for millennia. Sometimes, you just can’t improve on the old way of doing things.
As the population ages and more older patients come in for tooth extractions, dentists will come into possession of more gold than usual. Some dentists give the gold back to the patient, but others keep it in a gold jar. To people outside of the profession, the latter option seems like the premise of a horror movie or a fairy tale, depending on how your imagination works. What do they do with this gold? Bury it in the backyard and grow a tooth tree? Wait for the tooth fairy to come?
Work With a Reputable Gold Refiner
Lots of people have their own ideas of what to do with it—they’ll show up at your office offering to buy your gold, often at a laughably low price. That’s because they’ll just turn around and sell it to a refiner at a profit.
Your best bet is to eliminate the middleman and find a gold refiner you can trust, one who can let you know exactly what you have and what it’s worth. And if you elect to offer the gold to the patient, you should be able to point them in the direction of a reputable refiner so that they can also get the best deal for their gold.
It’s not always clear what exactly is in dental gold. It could be a low-cost 14k alloy, or it could be a purer 18k alloy. The only way to know for sure is through an assay. We have a number of assay methods we can use to pinpoint the contents of your dental gold, from the low-tech touchstone to the high-tech and highly accurate XRF spectrometer. You can read more about our assay methods here.
We’ll choose the most appropriate method and give you the most accurate analysis of your sample. With an accurate analysis, you’re in a better position to determine how fair our offer is based on current precious metal prices.
We’ve been in business for over 50 years. That longevity is built on a reputation for giving the most accurate analysis and the fairest price. Gold refiners aren’t the tooth fairy, but we’re the next best thing for your dental gold.
