Category Archives: Dental

Do you know of a place to sell silver from dental x-rays? From Denny in Panama City, Florida

Hi Denny!

You have come to the right place! We have the capabilities to handle large shipments of x-ray film here at our refining facility in Mexico, Missouri including those from dental offices.

Here are the bullet point things to keep in mind. And we have also included some of our past blog articles about selling x-ray film:

• Quantity: You will need to send at least 300-400 pounds of X-ray film, removed from the paper jackets, to receive a payment and recover the shipping cost.
• Shipping: We would recommend filling one or two 50 gallon drums of X-ray film and then shipping the film in the drums.
• Sorting: We can help sort and purge x-rays in eight states including Alabama, Northern Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Which would include Panama City if you have enough material to need the service.

We currently work with eight of the top 100 hospital groups in the country and are able to process large amounts of film with quick turnaround time. Please inquire further either by phone or on our contact forms as to the amount of x-rays you have and needed services dealing with selling dental x-ray film.

Check out these blog articles:

How Much Is Silver In X-Ray Film Worth?

Recycling X-Ray Film

How To Sell Medical X-Rays

Jonathon from Grand Rapids, Michigan asks “I have about 3 pounds of mostly gold dental scrap including a number of gold teeth and bridges that my late grandfather accumulated over the years in his dental practice. How do I figure out what this is worth and where can I sell these items?”

Question from Mickey in Tulsa, Oklahoma: I have a three gold teeth and a dental bridge originally formed in 1974 I want to sell.   Can you help me determine what this is worth?

Hi Jonathon and Mickey,

Determining the value of gold teeth, crowns, bridges and other dental scrap can be very challenging because dental gold is often alloyed with many different metals and over the years, we have received dental gold that ranged from 10 to 22 karats.  Since the grade of the gold significantly affects the value of the items, we often have to run the items through testing equipment to determine the precious metal content percentages.

It can also be difficult to determine the exact weight of items like crowns as they often have parts of the tooth and other dental material still attached to them. Due to these factors and the more challenging refining process associated with dental gold, we usually pay between 80-85% on the fine gold content depending on the amount one sends in to be refined.

We also tell people to consider the silver-colored alloys that are used in dental scrap such as crowns and bridges. Don’t discard this material before knowing if it is precious metal or not. Despite the color, this material may contain gold, platinum or palladium. If these items have any value, our analytical equipment will be able to determine their value.

In regards to your questions “Where can I sell gold teeth?” there are a number of dental product distributors that buy scrap dental gold and send it to companies like us for refining.  If you want to deal directly with a refiner, Arch Enterprises is a member of the National Association of Dental Labs, endorsed by the Kansas Dental Association, and works with consumers, dental offices and laboratories across the country to refine the precious metals from dental items.

I have 8 ounces of gold sheets for dental use from the 1880’s and platinum from the 1800’s as well. The platinum is in a powder form. Wondering what the value of these items would be today. From Katie in Memphis, Tennessee

Hi Katie,

To know the actual value of the precious metal contained in your dental sheets we would have to weigh them separately and test for the level of fine gold they possess. Because your items are over 200 years old, the dental products were probably manufactured much differently than they are now, so it would be hard to classify them as dental scrap like we do today. We pay less for dental scrap than, for instance gold jewelry, because it is harder to separate the gold from the other metals that dental scrap is alloyed with. If the gold sheets are very pure we could offer as much as 90% if you have more than 2 ounces of pure or fine gold.

It’s hard to say what kind of estimate we could give you on your platinum without knowing how much you have. We usually pay 70% of the dollar value of the platinum recovered.

If you have any documentation on the gold or even pictures that might help us identify the purity of your material, we may be able to provide a more accurate estimate for you. Thanks!

I work in a dental office and we have about half of a large Rubbermaid filled with old x-rays. We have already gone through the files and separated everything. How does shipping and pricing work for this kind of material? – From Tessa in Minneapolis, Minnesota

We are purging old x-ray films from our files. Do you have a buyer in Iowa? – From Dr. Carmicheal

Hi Tessa and Dr. Carmicheal,

Thank you for your questions about our silver x-ray film recovery services. I wanted to address your questions together and give you both some more information on our x-ray recycling program.

Because there is such a small amount of silver to recover in dental x-ray film, we do not pay for them. So Tessa, unfortunately your shipment is too small for us to return a payment to you. You can ship them to us via UPS and we will recycle your x-ray film for you, but that is the best we can do.

Dr. Carmicheal, if you have a significant amount of traditional medical x-ray film we can recover the silver and return a payment back to you. We also offer on-site purging services available in Iowa locations. This is done on a custom basis, so please call us if you think this service fits your needs. However, if you have dental x-ray film we will not be able to buy them, and would recommend the same advice we gave Tessa – to find a local company to recycle these.

• I have 2 gold crowns. What is the gold value from these? – From Rob in Des Moines, Iowa

• I have 5 lbs of very small pieces of dental scrap that came from a retired dentist. – from Larry in Phoenix, Arizona

• I have several teeth and crowns with gold filling that have been extracted. I would like the gold recovered and returned as a single nugget. – From Stacy in Raymond, Illinois

• I have about 10 grams of a three tooth bridge, two gold caps and one gold tooth. – From Matt in Chicago, Illinois

Hi Rob, Stacy, Larry and Matt,

I wanted to address your questions together as they are all about dental scrap to refine. As you may know, gold used in dental products can come in may grades and this grade and the amount of gold used can vary greatly from tooth to tooth and crown to crown.

Because of the weight variance and how the gold is alloyed with other metals, it is a very difficult process to extract the full amount of precious metal from the scrap. Arch Enterprises has technicians to handle the recycling of dental scrap, but it is still a difficult process compared to coins or jewelry.

In all of your situations we would melt your pieces together and analyze the gold content. This will ensure total gold consistency for the assay and would result in a higher payout for all of you.

For more information please refer to a previous blog post, “What is My Dental Scrap Worth?”