Repairing your teeth with metal crowns is one of the most common dental procedures in use today. Unbeknown to some is that dental crowns often contain precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Are these crowns actually valuable?
They might be.
Though it may seem like an odd request to some, dentists are obligated to return your crowns should they ever be extracted. These seemingly worthless items can often contain great value.
How much gold is in a dental crown?
Many of the alloys used to create dental crowns contain some amount of precious metals, such as gold or silver. However, it is nearly impossible to value a metal alloy without the assistance of a professional.
There is a wide range of different metal compositions depending on what crown you have in your mouth.
However, dentists often don’t know the precious metal content of the crowns they extract. The only way to know is through a metallurgical assay, which is a process precious metal refiners use to determine the value of an alloy.
Are gold crowns worth anything?
It’s hard to determine the actual value or price of a gold dental crown because crowns vary so much in composition.
For example, a typical PFM may include a combination of gold and palladium, a highly valuable precious metal, and may have a silver tint. Some crowns have much more palladium and gold than others and some crowns (like porcelain crowns) and don’t contain any gold or precious metals.
The value of your crown will largely be dependent on how much precious metal is contained in it. On average, we’ve seen gold crowns valued anywhere from $0-$100.
The gold price has trended around $1,800 per troy ounce since August 2021 (as of 10/17/21).
How do I sell my gold tooth crown?
Precious metals prices have risen sharply in recent years, so there’s been an upswing in refiners who buy dental crowns directly from the public.
Selling a gold crown to a precious metal refiner is a simple process. With Garfield Refining, for example, you fill out a form on our website, and we send you free shipping materials to mail in your gold crowns.
We’ll assay and refine your dental crown to find its exact precious metal content, and then we’ll determine a value based on the spot price of gold or other precious metal. Finally, we send a check or ACH direct deposit payment to you within 24 hours of processing the dental crown.
Remember that the gold crown you send is rarely pure and will have to be refined. Most all precious metal refiners will have a refining fee to cover the cost of extracting the precious metals.
Can I sell my other dental scrap?
Garfield Refining accepts all dental scrap from the public, including:
- Dental crowns
- Bridges
- PFMs
- Inlays and onlays
- Partial dentures
- Dental implants
We accept dental crowns and scrap “as is,” so don’t worry about cleaning your material before it gets here.
CLICK HERE if you’re looking to sell gold dental crowns.
Garfield Refining has been refining precious metals since 1892. We’ll get you the best value for your gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, and we have the industry’s best customer service. Though we serve various industries, we excel in dental refining. For the past eleven years, Garfield has been named North America’s “Best Dental Refiner” by leading dentists!
Stay tuned to Garfield’s blog for more helpful and fun insights on precious metals, such as articles like 3 Fun Facts about Gold, The Best Place to Sell Dental Gold, and The Major Factors that Drive the Gold Price.