When your dental health or the alignment of your teeth are in a detrimental state, it requires professional treatment to fix the problem. Some of these procedures or treatments require using metals to protect the strength and integrity of your teeth while allowing your mouth to chew and talk normally! Here are a few examples of dental procedures that may use metals to help your teeth.
Fillings
When your tooth has a cavity full of bacteria that is eating away at your tooth, your dentist will need to drill into the cavity, clean it out so no bacteria remains to damage the tooth, and then fill the tooth with a durable material that doesn’t allow for further penetration by bacteria. Metal makes a perfect material for this, as it is malleable enough to expand to the cavity shape but hard enough to withstand consistent pressure from chewing and grinding. These fillings are usually made with a silver amalgam, which is a mixture of silver, copper, tin, zinc and mercury that is safe for your mouth and will last decades. Some dentists and patients prefer a tooth colored resin filling. With advances in technology, this material also works very well for filling those cavities.
Crowns
A dental crown is a permanent covering put on teeth that have been damaged, as a form of protection against further breakage or deterioration. If your tooth has been eaten away by bacteria, and is at risk of needing to be removed but not quite there yet, your dentist may recommend capping it to halt further detriment and allow it to stay without causing you pain or additional damage. Caps are usually made from alloys consisting of chromium, nickel, tin or purer metals like palladium, silver or gold.
Bridges
If you have a tooth or multiple teeth missing, the surrounding teeth may suffer from shifts into the extra space around them, eventually impacting the alignment of your teeth. They may also suffer from the lack of support they once had surrounding them, putting them at greater risk for faster deterioration or weakening. Bridges help regain that support in the gaps between teeth! A crown is put on the teeth on either side of the gap, and a false tooth (or teeth) is held in place by the crowns. Cobalt and chromium or other alloys like palladium, silver and gold are popular options for bridges.
If you have undergone a procedure like one of these, using a metal that was listed here, you may be able to get cash for your precious metal crown or bridge! If you have these treatments updated or replaced, sell your old dental scraps to us at CrownBuyers and some monetary return on that investment.