There are some who have one or more gold teeth, either through necessity or vanity. The latter group have often been to dentists that have not applied the same rigour to cosmetic treatments as perhaps they should, and now many of those who had thought it looks good to have a mouth full of metalwork are beginning to suffer underlying tooth problems.

Gold fillings and overlays are now being removed at a considerable rate, perhaps also as the ‘look’ falls from fashion. What happens to the gold?

Gold prices are high and it is right that dentists should ask patients if they want to keep their extracted gold fillings and overlays. After all, they paid for them in the first place.

I have been told of the experiences at one dental surgery where all of these extractions are offered to the patient by the dentist, but the dental nurses/assistants generally intervene to say that there are clinical waste and shouldn’t be taken away. That gold, and the remaining fraction from those patients that didn’t want them in the first place,finds its way to one of the many firms paying cash for scrap gold. Waste regulation doesn’t come into it, it’s a nice little earner.

The enterprise may be more widespread that it appears, or this may be a one off. We do not know. That extracted teeth are clinical waste is perhaps correct but the issue is a trivial one and there should be no reason even to hint at regulations that would prevent a patient taking away their own gold fillings. Nor so a proud mum keeping baby’s first milk tooth.

The gold traders might not be right in accepting ‘clinical waste’ for smelting and recovery, but who would be at harm. That fraction of dental waste which comprises extracted teeth might contain an appreciable amount of gold, more so in some some communities that others. Recovery may be troublesome, and perhaps dangerous if this is mixed with mercury amalgam, but I guess there are some who will be attracted to a few extra £££s whatever the circumstance.