Is Dental Gold Worth Selling? What It's Worth and How to Sell It

Yes — dental gold is worth selling when the piece contains gold. A piece that contains gold has gold-content value, but appearance alone does not establish composition: a yellow colour suggests gold without proving it, and white or silver pieces can also hold gold. What a piece is worth comes down to three measurable things: how much metal there is, what share of that metal is gold, and the gold spot price used in your written report. One crown is enough to send. There is no minimum quantity.

Below, the value is worked out step by step, one hypothetical crown is priced with every number stated, and the way an offer is produced — melting, XRF testing and a written report — is explained.

What Is Dental Gold Worth?

Three numbers decide it, and each one has a unit:

• Metal weight, in grams. This is the weight of the alloy — the whole crown or bridge metal — not the weight of the gold inside it. Payout calculations use the weight after melting, once porcelain, cement and other non-metal material have been removed as far as practical.
• Gold percentage. Dental alloys are mixtures, and the gold share differs from piece to piece. Dental Gold Experts determines it by melting and XRF testing; it cannot be read from the colour of the piece or guessed from its age.
• Gold spot price, per troy ounce. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams. The price changes daily; your offer uses the gold spot price shown in your written report.

Put together: metal weight in grams × gold fraction ÷ 31.1034768 × gold price per troy ounce = the value of the gold in the piece, in dollars. That figure is the gold-content value, sometimes called melt value. It is not the offer: offer = that gold-content value × the payout rate shown in your written report, so the offer is lower than the gold value.

People often ask for a price per gram. There is no single figure, because a gram of dental alloy holds a different amount of gold depending on the alloy. The table shows what one gram of alloy holds at three assumed gold shares, valued at the same assumed $4,000 per troy ounce ($4,000 per troy ounce ÷ 31.1034768 g per troy ounce = $128.60 per gram of pure gold).

*At the assumed $4,000 per troy ounce. Gold-content value only — not an offer and not a payout. Purity is assumed for illustration; Dental Gold Experts determines the gold percentage of your piece by melting and XRF testing. Your offer is the measured gold value multiplied by the payout rate shown in your written report.

To see an estimate with your own figures, enter the weight and your best guess at the gold percentage in the dental gold value calculator. It shows an estimated payout based on the weight, estimated gold content, and the spot price used in the calculator; the final offer is determined after melting and assay. When you are ready, request a shipping label and the material is measured for you.

Which Dental Pieces Are Worth Selling?

Dental restorations are made from engineered alloys built to survive chewing and resist corrosion. The American Dental Association (ADA) groups them by precious-metal content:

• High-noble alloys — at least 60% precious metals by weight; gold content ranging from 40–88%. These are the most valuable and were the dominant restoration material for much of the 20th century, so older crowns and bridges are very often high-noble.
• Noble alloys — at least 25% precious metals; frequently palladium-based. Many appear white or silver. Their gold content varies, so they should be tested rather than judged by colour.
• Base metal alloys — less than 25% precious metals; mainly nickel, cobalt or chromium. These usually hold little or no gold, but they are still worth checking rather than discarding.

The alloy type cannot be told from colour, appearance or age alone — white and silver pieces can still contain gold. At Dental Gold Experts, Blake melts the material and analyzes multiple spots on the melted material by XRF to determine its gold content. Dental Gold Experts pays for gold content only. Here is what sets the value of the pieces people send most often:

*Your offer depends on the weight, the gold percentage measured after melting, the gold spot price used, and the payout rate. Track current prices at Kitco.

Blake Gold Buying Expert · 15+ Years in Pawn & Precious Metals

Insider Tip

Every time someone asks me "is dental gold worth selling," I ask them one question back: "Have you had it assayed?" An offer is easier to evaluate when the buyer explains the testing results and calculation. A white bridge that looks worthless can still contain some gold, and a year of extracted crowns sitting in a drawer is material nobody has measured yet. The question isn't really whether dental gold is worth selling. The question is why you haven't sent it in yet.

Is Dental Gold Worth Selling If You Only Have One Crown?

This is the question most people hesitate over. One crown, two fillings, a partial plate — is dental gold worth selling in quantities that small? Yes. Consistently and without exception.

A crown's metal weight varies with its size and construction, and high-noble alloys contain at least 40% gold, so even one piece can be worth sending in. Its value depends on its weight, its gold percentage, and the gold spot price. The prepaid USPS shipping label and assay are free. You won't know what the assay reveals until you try. For a worked example of what one crown could be worth, see our guide to selling gold crowns.

Blake personally melts every submission, then analyzes multiple spots on the melted material by XRF to determine its gold content. A single crown gets the same process as a full practice batch. For general background on gold market benchmarks and measurement standards, see the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). There is no size minimum below which the process changes.

What Decides the Offer You Receive

Whether you hold one crown or a year of practice scrap, the same things decide what you are offered — and what you can do to recover the most.

How the Offer Is Produced: Melt, XRF, Written Report

The reason the numbers above can be trusted is the evaluation process. Here is what happens from the moment your material arrives at Dental Gold Experts through to your payment:

For Dental Practices: What Accumulates Over a Year

For an individual with one or two removed crowns, selling is a one-time decision. For a dental practice it is a recurring one, because extracted metal keeps accumulating month after month.

Consider a general practice extracting or replacing just two gold crowns per month. That's 24 crowns a year either collected for their gold content, sitting in a drawer, or being thrown away. A practice with higher volume, older patient demographics, or regular crown-and-bridge work can accumulate significantly more. For practice-management reading, see Dental Economics. Scrap collection works best as a simple routine that runs in the background once the process is established.

The process requires nothing more than keeping a small container to collect extracted metal, and submitting a batch to Dental Gold Experts when it's accumulated. No sorting required. No minimum quantity. The prepaid USPS shipping label and assay are free. The entire workflow takes minutes per quarter.

Common Reasons People Hold Off — and Why None of Them Hold Up

The reasons people give for not selling dental gold almost never reflect actual barriers. Here's what I hear most often — and the reality behind each one:

• "I don't have enough to make it worth it." One crown is enough. There is no minimum. And waiting until you have "enough" just means the material sits in a drawer losing nothing but your time.
• "I don't know if my material is actually gold." That's exactly what the assay determines. You don't need to know the alloy type before sending it in. Send it all — yellow, white, mixed — and let the melt and XRF results answer the question.
• "I'm worried about mailing valuables." We provide prepaid, insured USPS shipping. For larger shipments, contact us before shipping to arrange additional coverage. Your prepaid USPS label includes tracking.
• "I already tried a local buyer and it wasn't worth the hassle." Ask how that buyer tested your material and how the offer was calculated. At Dental Gold Experts, Blake melts the material and analyzes multiple spots on the melted material by XRF to determine its gold content.

Blake Gold Buying Expert · 15+ Years in Pawn & Precious Metals

Insider Tip

The biggest myth I encounter is that dental gold is only worth selling if you have a large batch. That's simply not true. A single crown goes through the same melt and XRF process as a full batch. The size of the batch doesn't determine whether dental gold is worth selling. The gold content and the gold spot price determine that — and neither of those things has anything to do with how much you've accumulated.