How To Clean Scrap Gold Dental Crowns

In a previous article, I discussed the intrinsic value of gold dental crowns, so I will not go over that again here. But before you cash in your little nuggets, it is a good idea to remove the dental material first.

Some buyers may not buy them otherwise, and only when the crowns are cleaned can you weigh them accurately and determine their value.

This is how I clean dental crowns:
First soak the crowns/teeth in a little bit of rubbing alcohol to kill germs. Then dry them off with paper towels.

Next, using a pair of large vise-grips, squeeze the sides of the crown slightly, fracturing the tooth so that the pieces can fall out, but taking care not to squeeze the hollow of the crown closed. This would trap tooth material inside. Rotate and squeeze repeatedly around the sides of the crown until all of the tooth material breaks free.

You may need to use the tip of a small screwdriver or a pointed file to remove fractured pieces and the thin chalky layer between the gold metal and the tooth material.

Each time you squeeze and lock the vice-grips down on the crown, hold the business end of the pliers in a clear zip-lock sandwich bag. The cam lever action of a pair of vice-grips exerts a great deal of pressure on the crown. If the crown pops out while you are clamping down, it will launch into the stratosphere. You don’t want to spend the next 30 minutes searching for it. You also don’t want it hitting you in the eye.

In addition to containing the crown if it pops out of the pliers, the plastic bag also catches the fragments of dental material as they fall out of the crown. When you are finished cleaning each crown, you can simply throw the plastic bag away, our empty it and use it again for the next crown.

Be careful as you work with a dental crown. The edge at the transition from crown to tooth is usually tapered. When the tooth material is removed, the now exposed metal edge is as sharp as the blade of a knife. It can cut you if you are not careful.

After you have removed all (or nearly all) dental material from the crowns, give them another alcohol bath to remove pulverized tooth material and to further ensure that they are sanitized. Then dry them. Make sure all alcohol is wiped off or evaporated before weighing the crowns. This will give you a more accurate weight.

Some people are thoroughly revulsed by the prospect of handling dental crowns that have been in someone else’s mouth. I certainly understand that.

When I cleaned my first two crowns, I wore a dust mask and latex gloves. I lined a large box with a 33 gallon garbage bag to catch fragments even though I was doing the job outside.

Even with all of these elaborate precautions, I still felt “unclean” afterwards until I had discarded or sanitized everything that had come in contact with the crowns. I’ll bet I used half a bottle of alcohol.

But now-a-days, after having cleaned countless crowns, I take it far more casually. I still do the before and after alcohol soak, but I don’t bother to sanitize my tools afterward, and I use my bare hands to do the job. I just wash my hands afterward with soap and water.

Anyway, here is some information for you. I hope you find it useful and profitable.