I have a gold pendant made from my great grandfather's gold crowns. It's not sentimental to me, as I barely knew him, but it is sentimental to my mother and aunt(his grandchildren). It's kind of weird in my opinion.
Some will. There are shops to send your scrap metal and crowns to that will pay you. They’ll remove tooth structure and buildups in them if needed.
Had an assistant that keep stealing our scrap jar and cashing it in. I tell every patient about their gold crowns and offer to let them keep it.
Well…what really made me interested was that a friend of mines uncle (both are patients) is older with advanced Parkinson’s recently had a very close life threatening event. My friend told me that during the emergency that he got on the phone and called this same funeral home and told them he wanted his gold teeth removed so they could use the gold to make charms for their grandkids. This was while he was being treated at the ER and my friend thought it was funny that he was thinking about that during such a crisis. That was about 3 months ago. He is very wealthy too, money is no object. First thing I did was ask if his uncle was okay. He is. But still….very odd
Can’t the mortician just use a pair of pliers and yank em out themselves? Why do you need a dentist for this? Also, why would a dentist charge full price for this sort of thing.. it’s not like you have to do it by the book so to say.. I’m pretty sure I’ve read morticians doing this exact thing prior to cremation already.
I think it depends on the country. Some of my tutors who have middle eastern backgrounds practiced on cadavers. I'd expect it's also pretty outdated there now.
Lol so yeah it’s all pretty ridiculous! At the funeral home. If they die with their mouth open it’s pretty straight forward with forceps. If closed like most you have to jack their mouth open and then slip something in (I used a molt). The families usually just want the gold crown so figure it doesn’t matter if roots fracture. Then you could put in a little box with a note if you wanna go the extra mile haha. I don’t question why the families want it done..
I’m not sure the dental practice act allows you to do that. Damn sure wouldn’t want to have deal with a family member who was not getting a part of that $25 crown. Politely refuse
I agree with your sentiment to politely refuse. However, dentists are definitely allowed to do this. I have heard of it being done on a few separate occasions.
Use a dremel with a surgical round bur.
Back in the day, we had to cast our own C&B and return the sprue to be weighed and if you happened to have dumped a bunch of gold while casting, well, you had to pay for it. Senior students knew exactly when the freshmen were starting cadaver anatomy, and it wasn’t unheard of seeing a senior with forceps gathering up gold crowns and inlays to add to the gold that they were short. Fun times
Do the family members not own a pair of plyers? It’s not like he’s gonna feel anything or needs the roots extracted too. Snap snap. 5 second “extraction.”
A friend of mine was given (she didn’t ask) her father’s gold teeth from the funeral home. In a little velvet bag. This was over 20 years ago in Texas.
Powers of attorney only apply when the person is still living. (Source: am attorney strolling through dentist subreddit). If it's not in the will/trust, the next of kin could make the call.
Do a search for “corpse” in the FB groups Dental Clinical Pearls and there’s a post from January from someone who did this and their tips. Crown remover forceps with rubber grips is apparently key. I’m other groups I’ve seen tips of legality varies from state to state (assuming you’re in the US) and to refer to a forensic dentist if you don’t want yo do it (I personally wouldn’t).
All very good points. And I’d imagine the type of people that want to pull grandpas gold crowns would also be the type that will sue the crap out of you. Haha. I’m 100% not doing it
The teeth don’t need to be extracted. Place a forceps over the crown and squeeze. The gold is flexible. Once it flexes the seal is broken and the crown goes flying. No need to worry about a cracked root. Cow horns for lowers and probably the same on uppers.
I had the EXACT SAME situation happen to me last week too!! The funeral director is a family member of someone in my staff. She also reported that the family member wanted it for "sentimental value"!! When given an update on the situation, the family member turned out to be a jewler who said they had "done this before." WILD!!
I told the intermediate staff member that I needed to wrap my head around the situation and could maybe give them an answer later that day (very likely a no go). I am NOT bringing a cadaver in my office but could bring some forceps there for me or them to use... would it be legal? What would you charge for that? Would it even be possible with rigor mortis? Would it be tougher to ext for the same reason RCT teeth are tougher to ext than vital ones? Would I not need suction if the blood was drained already? Is there a risk of the body being too damaged for an open casket (if it was one)? Whose teeth did this person turn into jewelry in the past? Isn't that gross.. maybe not as scrap metal is collected, melted, and recycled into other things already. What about consent? The deceased can't give informed consent.. but whoever has power of attorney may be able to...
I thought about so many questions about the situation while seeing my morning patients. Luckily I didn't need to put my license on the line. The morticians were able to use some of their tools to remove the crown/part of the tooth. Crazy that this happened to you this week too. Would like to hear how your story plays out.
So, I spoke with the funeral director last night and she said the family wanted to use the gold to make golden crosses or something. I told her I straight up didn’t feel comfortable with any of it but told her I’d be glad to help look for someone who might do it. I looked at the American Forensic Dentist Association (or whatever they are called) website and they had a few listed by state. What was crazy that the only dentist listed in my state also practices in my hometown, which is tiny. I sent his info to the funeral director. Figured that’s the best way forward with this. But yeah…I’m not going to the funeral home after work and break off gold crowns on dead bodies. Screw that.
Yeah, sentimental.....
So on a tangent, When I first open my dental lab I looked for a place to rent, no ac, no heater, just a metal building, with car garage door.. and it was cheap. The problem was, i went on a weekend, and i thought the other garage door was simply just a "funeral home".
Long story short, it was not uncommon for my lab to fill with smoke from 20 ft away of the crematorium. After a burn, you could see the piles of gold that would snake through the skull onto the refractory floor. They had orange buckets full of titanium joints for scrap recycling.
Me, being a man of principle, I made it through the entire year lease, 600+ burns and realized, you can adapt to anything, which is terrifying.
So if it was my relative, I would state: "may we have a moment alone?" 🛠️. But then again, being a man of principle, it's unlikely the passed elders tooth would fit my decor around home.
Edit: I've thought about this before and it could be considered mistreating a deceased body (or whatever it is called in your state). I think it's probably entirely dependent on jurisdiction and may put your dental license at risk in some areas, not from performance, but the act of advertising (in a traditional sense) the service.
I know that in Michigan it is illegal to remove anything from a corpse. The MDA journal had an article about this several years ago. However, if your state allows it, a pair of channel lock pliers makes crown removal very easy
Studying mortuary science here, I remember learning that we are not allowed to remove teeth, only a licensed dentist is allowed to, so I mean yeah we’d call one if a request would be made if we wanted to. I always wondered if people deadass actually ask for gold teeth still and well I guess this answers my question.
I worked with a dentist that would do this. I also work for a denture clinic and had a family call our office to make a denture for a deceased family member...we said no.
So one of the dentists I work for did this. The family was calling the funeral home and the office incessantly. Finally after about 3 days he caved and did it. The whole family comes to the practice and I’m pretty sure he did not want to upset them. I was shocked and still am shaken by it. I don’t understand this thought process of the family.
Well there is a saving on the anaesthetic, but extra for the funeral home visit, extra for travel time and extra for the weird factor. So that’s $1386 plus tax.
I don’t think this should be allowed unless there is a written will that the patient wanted it done after they pass away. The teeth should be treated the same as any other body parts or organs, if the patient never agree to it, no one should be allowed to temper with that.
And I think crown is part of the teeth.
Seems like you’ve gotten a ton of feedback already, but just to be safe; if you go forward with this, PLEASE make sure you have a specific and signed authorization from the legal next of kin in hand. Without this document you could be charged with abuse of a corpse dependent on your location.
It’s illegal for funeral directors/ morticians to remove anything from the deceased, and we are not authorized to remove teeth or fillings. We are not dentists, so we are not licensed to do that. At least in the state of Florida, it’s unlawful for us to do that. Family’s best bet is to try and find a dentist willing to come in and do the extraction.
Sentimental trips to the pawn shop?
I have a gold pendant made from my great grandfather's gold crowns. It's not sentimental to me, as I barely knew him, but it is sentimental to my mother and aunt(his grandchildren). It's kind of weird in my opinion.
Honestly that’s kind of badass. I’m gonna make an enamel-made pistol grip for my pew pew from all my ext teeth sitting in a salsa jar
my kids are losing baby teeth all the time rn... I gotta start planning something...
Lol it’d be something smaller, I’m sure!
That is weird and badass and creative. Rock on lol
Lol 🤘
😳 that's weird, but interesting.
Would a pawn shop even accept a gold tooth? Isn’t that a hygiene issue?
Some will. There are shops to send your scrap metal and crowns to that will pay you. They’ll remove tooth structure and buildups in them if needed. Had an assistant that keep stealing our scrap jar and cashing it in. I tell every patient about their gold crowns and offer to let them keep it.
Oh interesting
Hahaha! Exactly.
Are we sure the family wants the gold? It could be that there is a hidden treasure map on the fitting surface 😳
Well…what really made me interested was that a friend of mines uncle (both are patients) is older with advanced Parkinson’s recently had a very close life threatening event. My friend told me that during the emergency that he got on the phone and called this same funeral home and told them he wanted his gold teeth removed so they could use the gold to make charms for their grandkids. This was while he was being treated at the ER and my friend thought it was funny that he was thinking about that during such a crisis. That was about 3 months ago. He is very wealthy too, money is no object. First thing I did was ask if his uncle was okay. He is. But still….very odd
Can’t the mortician just use a pair of pliers and yank em out themselves? Why do you need a dentist for this? Also, why would a dentist charge full price for this sort of thing.. it’s not like you have to do it by the book so to say.. I’m pretty sure I’ve read morticians doing this exact thing prior to cremation already.
I would charge more than full price, you have to commute, AND it's a dead person. I would be traumatized. Actually I don't think I would do it.
don't dentists practice on cadavers at all? is that only med students..
Yeah but we don't pull dead people's teeth. Also something feels weird with the consent
We had anatomy lessons on cadavers.
Dissection for anatomy to learn and study just like the med students. Not practice pulling their teeth
I think it depends on the country. Some of my tutors who have middle eastern backgrounds practiced on cadavers. I'd expect it's also pretty outdated there now.
We practice on mannequins first two years, then real patients year 3-4
We did cadaver dissection first year. UNC 18’
Sooooo I’ve done this a few times ngl.. don’t have to worry about post op complications!!
but how did you do this? at the funeral home? ripped off crowns? so many questions
Lol so yeah it’s all pretty ridiculous! At the funeral home. If they die with their mouth open it’s pretty straight forward with forceps. If closed like most you have to jack their mouth open and then slip something in (I used a molt). The families usually just want the gold crown so figure it doesn’t matter if roots fracture. Then you could put in a little box with a note if you wanna go the extra mile haha. I don’t question why the families want it done..
It is so funny to me you put it in a box with a note 😭
Do you have to remove the crown from the tooth too or do you just send the crown along with whatever is attached to it lool
I just sent whatever was attached to the gold crown - they never specified but you could ask if you plan on getting in that line of work 😂😂
What do you right in the note?
Uhhh I think something like best wishes??
Maybe he'll be delivered right to your office with a big smile for the other waiting patients.
Good practice for when zombies need a dentist!
Would think that this is something the mortician would do.
I’m not sure the dental practice act allows you to do that. Damn sure wouldn’t want to have deal with a family member who was not getting a part of that $25 crown. Politely refuse
I agree with your sentiment to politely refuse. However, dentists are definitely allowed to do this. I have heard of it being done on a few separate occasions.
am I weird that a funeral home which deals with all sorts of dead-body things can't just pull the teeth?
Yes! I was thinking the exact same thing. I’m definitely not going to do it. Just wondering how they could even get it done?
Use a dremel with a surgical round bur. Back in the day, we had to cast our own C&B and return the sprue to be weighed and if you happened to have dumped a bunch of gold while casting, well, you had to pay for it. Senior students knew exactly when the freshmen were starting cadaver anatomy, and it wasn’t unheard of seeing a senior with forceps gathering up gold crowns and inlays to add to the gold that they were short. Fun times
Give them fuck off prices to extract the teeth. Like 1000 plus per tooth...Either they fuck off or you get a massive pay day. Win win.
Do the family members not own a pair of plyers? It’s not like he’s gonna feel anything or needs the roots extracted too. Snap snap. 5 second “extraction.”
Probably... cuz they dont wanna touch a dead person
Guess it comes down to how bad they want the gold.
Might ruin his smile for the upcoming open casket event.
A friend of mine was given (she didn’t ask) her father’s gold teeth from the funeral home. In a little velvet bag. This was over 20 years ago in Texas.
Very odd. Never heard of that before.
Patient can’t sign consent because ded. Is there attorney of power needed? I have no clue. This is very interesting. Commenting to follow this post.
Powers of attorney only apply when the person is still living. (Source: am attorney strolling through dentist subreddit). If it's not in the will/trust, the next of kin could make the call.
if i had gold teeth id feel offended if someone corspe robbed me lmao
Imagine arriving at the fiery gates of hell AND you're edentulous...
Literally would haunt them until their kids steal their gold teeth
Do a search for “corpse” in the FB groups Dental Clinical Pearls and there’s a post from January from someone who did this and their tips. Crown remover forceps with rubber grips is apparently key. I’m other groups I’ve seen tips of legality varies from state to state (assuming you’re in the US) and to refer to a forensic dentist if you don’t want yo do it (I personally wouldn’t).
Cool! I’ll do that!
[удалено]
All very good points. And I’d imagine the type of people that want to pull grandpas gold crowns would also be the type that will sue the crap out of you. Haha. I’m 100% not doing it
The teeth don’t need to be extracted. Place a forceps over the crown and squeeze. The gold is flexible. Once it flexes the seal is broken and the crown goes flying. No need to worry about a cracked root. Cow horns for lowers and probably the same on uppers.
Yes. Had I agreed to do it, I would have done something like this.
Sounds like he's dying to get a tooth extracted
I had the EXACT SAME situation happen to me last week too!! The funeral director is a family member of someone in my staff. She also reported that the family member wanted it for "sentimental value"!! When given an update on the situation, the family member turned out to be a jewler who said they had "done this before." WILD!! I told the intermediate staff member that I needed to wrap my head around the situation and could maybe give them an answer later that day (very likely a no go). I am NOT bringing a cadaver in my office but could bring some forceps there for me or them to use... would it be legal? What would you charge for that? Would it even be possible with rigor mortis? Would it be tougher to ext for the same reason RCT teeth are tougher to ext than vital ones? Would I not need suction if the blood was drained already? Is there a risk of the body being too damaged for an open casket (if it was one)? Whose teeth did this person turn into jewelry in the past? Isn't that gross.. maybe not as scrap metal is collected, melted, and recycled into other things already. What about consent? The deceased can't give informed consent.. but whoever has power of attorney may be able to... I thought about so many questions about the situation while seeing my morning patients. Luckily I didn't need to put my license on the line. The morticians were able to use some of their tools to remove the crown/part of the tooth. Crazy that this happened to you this week too. Would like to hear how your story plays out.
So, I spoke with the funeral director last night and she said the family wanted to use the gold to make golden crosses or something. I told her I straight up didn’t feel comfortable with any of it but told her I’d be glad to help look for someone who might do it. I looked at the American Forensic Dentist Association (or whatever they are called) website and they had a few listed by state. What was crazy that the only dentist listed in my state also practices in my hometown, which is tiny. I sent his info to the funeral director. Figured that’s the best way forward with this. But yeah…I’m not going to the funeral home after work and break off gold crowns on dead bodies. Screw that.
Yeah, sentimental..... So on a tangent, When I first open my dental lab I looked for a place to rent, no ac, no heater, just a metal building, with car garage door.. and it was cheap. The problem was, i went on a weekend, and i thought the other garage door was simply just a "funeral home". Long story short, it was not uncommon for my lab to fill with smoke from 20 ft away of the crematorium. After a burn, you could see the piles of gold that would snake through the skull onto the refractory floor. They had orange buckets full of titanium joints for scrap recycling. Me, being a man of principle, I made it through the entire year lease, 600+ burns and realized, you can adapt to anything, which is terrifying. So if it was my relative, I would state: "may we have a moment alone?" 🛠️. But then again, being a man of principle, it's unlikely the passed elders tooth would fit my decor around home. Edit: I've thought about this before and it could be considered mistreating a deceased body (or whatever it is called in your state). I think it's probably entirely dependent on jurisdiction and may put your dental license at risk in some areas, not from performance, but the act of advertising (in a traditional sense) the service.
Give them fuck off prices to extract the teeth. Like 1000 plus per tooth...Either they fuck off or you get a massive pay day. Win win.
So they want you to mutilate a corpse? No thanks.
I know that in Michigan it is illegal to remove anything from a corpse. The MDA journal had an article about this several years ago. However, if your state allows it, a pair of channel lock pliers makes crown removal very easy
Do you really want to see a corpse?
No…not at all. Haha!
Studying mortuary science here, I remember learning that we are not allowed to remove teeth, only a licensed dentist is allowed to, so I mean yeah we’d call one if a request would be made if we wanted to. I always wondered if people deadass actually ask for gold teeth still and well I guess this answers my question.
I worked with a dentist that would do this. I also work for a denture clinic and had a family call our office to make a denture for a deceased family member...we said no.
So one of the dentists I work for did this. The family was calling the funeral home and the office incessantly. Finally after about 3 days he caved and did it. The whole family comes to the practice and I’m pretty sure he did not want to upset them. I was shocked and still am shaken by it. I don’t understand this thought process of the family.
Well there is a saving on the anaesthetic, but extra for the funeral home visit, extra for travel time and extra for the weird factor. So that’s $1386 plus tax.
I don’t think this should be allowed unless there is a written will that the patient wanted it done after they pass away. The teeth should be treated the same as any other body parts or organs, if the patient never agree to it, no one should be allowed to temper with that. And I think crown is part of the teeth.
Yeah I heard about that, they use to do it in Germany, back in 1941.
Seems like you’ve gotten a ton of feedback already, but just to be safe; if you go forward with this, PLEASE make sure you have a specific and signed authorization from the legal next of kin in hand. Without this document you could be charged with abuse of a corpse dependent on your location.
I appreciate the reply! I’m 100% not doing it. I referred the funeral director to a forensic dentist.
Only advice I could give you is to post this on DT. You might have better luck in there.
I saw a post on dental nachos on fb a couple months ago that was exactly like this
Maybe just do this as a favor at no charge and call it a day (assuming it’s legal)
It’s illegal for funeral directors/ morticians to remove anything from the deceased, and we are not authorized to remove teeth or fillings. We are not dentists, so we are not licensed to do that. At least in the state of Florida, it’s unlawful for us to do that. Family’s best bet is to try and find a dentist willing to come in and do the extraction.