Investing in dental gold carries more risk than regular gold due to the difficulty in determining its value. Dental gold may not always be made of gold and may include low-value metals. Refining fees and the weight of the piece also affect its value.
Dental gold, also known as dental scrap, is gold that was previously used for caps, bridges, false teeth, and fillings. Unlike investing in regular gold, investing in dental gold carries considerably more risk because it’s almost impossible to know how much dental scrap is worth. Along with the metals used, the weight of dental scrap has a lot to do with the potential value of dental gold.
Dental gold, despite the name, is not always made of gold. This is one of the biggest risk factors associated with investing in dental scrap. Yellow gold dental scrap will often have a percentage of actual gold. White dental scrap can be confusing as it can be very valuable or useless. This is because some white gold alloys use a large amount of precious metals, while others contain base and almost worthless metals.
Another risk factor is the refining fee. Gold in a filling may be worth $50, for example, but gold found in dental scrap is not in a usable state and must be refined before it can be reused. This means that a fee or percentage of the top is often charged so that the refiner can recoup the losses from the additional work. The end result may be that the $50 fill yields only $35 or $40 after fees.
Testing dental gold for gold and other precious metals is nearly impossible unless one has professional equipment. Using a gold needle and acid can show that the filling or bridge has 22-karat gold, but it’s incredibly rare to find dental remains that are entirely gold, which changes the value. Without access to professional equipment, the next best thing is to talk to a dentist, who should have a better idea of how much gold can be found in scrap metal.
Dental scrap can be worth more than the gold used on the tooth or crown. Dental gold is sometimes made with metals such as platinum or palladium, which far exceed the value of gold. On the other hand, dental gold can include relatively low value metals such as chromium or nickel, which will reduce the value of dental scrap.
The weight of the piece is also important, as it would be with any investment involving gold or metal. The heavier the precious metals, the more people will get out of the investment. However, only part of the scrap may contain precious metals, so an investor cannot rely on the weight of the scrap to determine the weight of the precious metals in the scrap.
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