Where to Sell Dental Gold: A Complete Seller’s Guide
It’s strange to think of gold not as jewelry but as something that may have spent decades inside someone’s mouth. That’s because dental gold, including crowns, bridges, and fillings, sits in its own resale category.
Sure, it isn’t pure 24K in most cases, but it still contains real, recoverable value. The real challenge then isn’t figuring out whether it’s worth something, but knowing where to sell dental gold without leaving money on the table.
Read on to learn how dental gold is valued, where reputable buyers can be found, and how to approach the sale the right way.
In a nutshell
Dental gold contains real value based on its gold content, weight, and the current spot price. Most pieces fall between 10K and 22K, and who a seller sells to directly affects the payout. By understanding how dental gold is tested and how different buyers operate, sellers can avoid low offers and choose the option that best balances speed, transparency, and value.
What Is Dental Gold and Why It Has Value
Dental gold is an alloy of gold with other metals, such as copper, silver, and palladium, used in dentistry for crowns, bridges, fillings, inlays, onlays, and gold teeth. This biocompatible alloy has value because it contains measurable gold content that retains resale value even when sold as dental scrap.
In fact, most dental alloys contain roughly 10K to 22K gold.
The remainder of the mix consists of metals like copper, silver, palladium, and platinum. They’re added to improve durability, hardness, and corrosion resistance, making the alloy suitable for dental procedures and able to withstand decades of use in the mouth.
Even these additional metals carry intrinsic value of their own, which further contributes to the overall value of dental gold when sold as scrap.
Types of dental gold
Dental gold comes in several common forms, each used for a specific dental purpose.
- Gold crowns: Single-tooth caps placed over damaged teeth. These are among the most common forms of dental gold and often contain a significant amount of gold alloy.
- Gold bridges: Multi-tooth restorations that act as a full replacement for missing teeth. Bridges tend to weigh more than crowns, which often makes them more valuable when sold.
- Inlays: Small gold pieces fitted inside a tooth rather than covering it. These usually weigh less but can still hold resale value.
- Onlays: Similar to inlays but covering a larger portion of the tooth surface. Their value depends heavily on size and alloy mix.
- Gold teeth: Removable gold caps or coverings that are cosmetic or decorative by nature. They’re also known as “gold grillz” and can vary widely in purity and weight.
- Gold partial dentures: Removable dental prosthetic created from a durable, biocompatible gold alloy.
Typical karat ranges
Most dental gold falls between 10K and 22K, with an average gold content of around 67% (roughly 16K). The exact karat depends on the specific dental application and the alloy formula used by the lab that produced it.
The table below shows how typical dental gold compositions compare by karat and gold content.
Dental Gold Value Calculator
Payout Expectations & Timeline
How quickly someone gets paid for dental gold depends largely on who they sell to and how the gold is evaluated. Below are the three most common payout timelines.
- The Alloy Market: Alloy offers same-day payouts once sellers accept the quote, but sellers must factor in shipping time.
- Local in‑person offers: Jewelers and pawn shops can often quote and pay within the same day, sometimes within an hour or up to a day or two.
- Refiner processing: Refiner payouts may take one to several weeks. Refiners often batch dental gold for melting and full assays. This adds processing time, which may explain why their payouts can sometimes be higher.
Regardless of who one sells to, several factors can affect timing. Assay backlogs can slow testing at refiners, shipping delays can occur due to carrier issues, and additional verification steps, such as secondary testing, can extend the process.
When Not to Sell Dental Gold
Selling dental gold makes sense in most cases, but there are situations where holding off may be the better move. Before selling, consider the following scenarios:
- Pieces with high sentimental value: Some dental gold items are tied to personal memories or milestones. If someone is not ready to part with them yet, it may be worth holding on for now, because once the gold is melted, that connection is gone.
- Antique dental work: Very old dental restorations may carry value beyond their gold content. Once sold as scrap, these pieces are melted down and permanently lose any historical or collectible significance, when they could’ve been valued more by collectors, historians, or museums.
- Mixed‑metal pieces with minimal gold content: Some dental items contain only a very small amount of gold mixed with mostly base metals. In these cases, it may not make financial sense to proceed with the sale, as the time and effort required may not justify the low payout.
Sell Your Dental Gold with Alloy Market
For the simplest way to sell your dental gold from the comfort of your home, give Alloy a try. Start by requesting a free evaluation kit, and we’ll ship it straight to your door. Use the free, postage-paid parcel to package and ship your items via FedEx. We even cover tracking and insurance, so you know your items are safe. Feel free to pack more than just dental gold to boost your offer. Alloy accepts finished gold, silver, platinum, and palladium items.
When your items arrive, our team will evaluate them and send you a detailed, itemized offer right away. When you accept, we initiate payment on the same business day. Customer service is our highest priority; just check out the reviews from our happy customers. We look forward to serving you.
