What Dental Offices and Labs Should Know About Dental Gold Refining

What dental gold refining means

Gold on its own is too soft for crowns, bridges, inlays, and onlays, so they are cast from dental alloys that harden it with metals such as copper, silver, or platinum (see the American Dental Association's overview of materials for indirect restorations). The mix varies from one restoration to the next; what gold crowns are made of explains the main alloy types. Refining is the step that separates the gold from those other metals and purifies it.

Dental gold refining is often confused with the two steps before it. Melting prepares the lot for testing, an assay measures its gold content, and refining separates and purifies the gold.

At Dental Gold Experts, we calculate your offer by applying the gold percentage from the assay to the post-melt weight, then using the gold spot price shown in your written report and the payout rate. The dental gold assay process explains how assays work and how XRF compares with laboratory methods, and how we assay dental gold walks through each step at Dental Gold Experts.

How dental gold refining works, step by step

For a dental office or lab, dental gold refining is the last of several steps. Knowing the order shows which step your payment depends on and what to ask about at each one.

1. Collecting the lot. Many offices save scrap over time and send it in as one shipment. A simple log of what goes into each shipment makes the written report easier to check. The dental office scrap gold SOP covers collection and record keeping.
2. Melting. The pieces are melted so the metal can be weighed and tested as a whole. From this point on, the weight that counts is the weight of the melted metal, not the weight of the pieces as they arrived.
3. Assaying. The melted metal is tested to measure its gold content. At Dental Gold Experts, Blake analyzes multiple spots on the melted material using XRF.
4. The offer or settlement. The weight, the measured gold content, the gold price, and the payout rate or charges are turned into a payment. With an outright sale, this is the offer you accept or decline.
5. Refining. Dental gold refining separates the gold from the other metals in the alloy and purifies it. If you sell outright, you are paid on the measured gold content and do not wait for refining. If your material is refined and settled later, ask how long that takes.

What decides the payment

Whether your scrap goes to dental gold refining or to an outright sale, the same four figures decide what you are paid.

Post-melt weight

Crowns and bridges often carry porcelain, cement, or tooth structure, and none of that is gold. The weight that matters is the weight of the melted metal. Payout calculations at Dental Gold Experts use the post-melt weight, and your written report shows it.

Gold percentage

Dental alloys differ in how much gold they contain, and pieces that look alike can hold very different amounts. That is why the gold percentage is measured on the melted metal instead of estimated from color or weight. What karat is dental gold explains how karat and gold content relate.

Gold spot price

The gold spot price changes from day to day, so the same lot can be worth more or less depending on the price used. Ask which spot price your payment is based on and whether it appears in writing. At Dental Gold Experts, your offer uses the gold spot price shown in your written report.

Payout rate and charges

Depending on the company, the payment may be a share of the gold value, the gold value minus refining or processing charges, or a mix of both. A rate on its own does not show what you will receive if charges are taken out separately, so compare offers on the amount you are actually paid. Your written report from Dental Gold Experts shows the payout rate and the payout calculation.

Dental scrap refiners or buyers: what offices and labs should compare

Terms for dental gold refining differ from company to company, so ask each refiner or buyer the same seven questions before you send anything:

• What happens to your material? Are you selling it outright, or is it refined and settled later? With an outright sale, you are paid once you accept an offer; with dental gold refining and later settlement, ask how long you will wait for payment.
• How is the gold content measured? Is the whole lot melted and tested, or only a sample? The answer tells you what the gold percentage on your report represents.
• What do you get in writing? Does the report show the weight, the gold percentage, which gold spot price was used, and how the payment was calculated? A written breakdown lets you check the calculation yourself and compare offers on the same basis.
• Are there refining or processing charges? Are they built into the rate or charged separately? A higher rate with separate charges can pay less than a lower rate without them.
• Is there a minimum lot size? If there is, a small office may need to save scrap for longer before sending it.
• When is payment issued, and by which methods? Ask whether payment follows your acceptance of an offer or waits until refining is finished.
• If I decline after melting, what can you return and who pays for shipping? Melted metal cannot be put back into its original pieces, so it helps to know the answer before you ship.

For a longer checklist on choosing who buys your scrap, see dental scrap buyers.

How Dental Gold Experts buys dental gold from offices and labs

Dental Gold Experts is based in Houston, Texas, and serves customers nationwide by mail. Pickup is available in Houston, San Antonio, and Central Texas; contact us to discuss direct pickup options. Dental Gold Experts performs refining, including separating and purifying gold.

If you decline our offer, your material can be returned in melted form at your expense.

What dental offices and labs can send

Dental Gold Experts accepts:

• Crowns, bridges, inlays, and onlays, including crowns still attached to extracted teeth
• Partial dentures with metal frameworks

Offers are based on the measured gold content. Not every piece contains gold, and base metal adds no gold. Dental Gold Experts does not accept dental amalgam, so please leave amalgam out of your shipment. When you request your label, tell us what you plan to send.

For setting up how scrap is collected and stored before it is sold or sent for dental gold refining, see the dental office scrap gold SOP and how dental practices should handle precious metal scrap.