Written By David Silverberg
Enterprising dentists should be aware of a unique moment in history: The price of gold has been soaring over the past summer, due in part to the upheaval caused by the pandemic and growing tensions between the US and China.
So if there’s any time to consider selling dental gold in Canada, most notably dental scrap, it’s now.
In the past six months, the price of gold has been driven up by more than 22%. And this isn’t a momentary blip on the gold-price radar: As Kitco writes, “analysts have said that the Federal Reserve's new inflation target and its focus on promoting full employment create a new long-term uptrend in gold.”
Other precious-metals experts wrote in August that “unless a vaccine emerges quickly, central banks stop printing money frantically, and real interest rates start rising again, it’s difficult not to be a goldbug right now.”
Selling gold in Canada has been on the minds of many gold owners, since they can get a healthy return in 2020, but dentists should also be looking at an under-valued aspect of their business: exchanging their dental scrap for cash.
When dentists and orthodontists tackle crowns, caps, bridges and other old restorations, in front of their mask could be a bounty of metal alloys containing precious metals such as gold, platinum, palladium, and silver.
We call this material “dental scrap” and dentists around the world often ignore what they pull out from patients, perhaps dumping these metals into the trash. There isn’t a lot of education on the value of this dental scrap, or that even such extractions are worth keeping in exchange for cash from a reputable buyer.
Dentists are unaware they could be pocketing extra money by working with an established dental refining company such as Muzeum Dental Refining.
At Muzeum Dental, our refining phase homogenizes the different metals found within dental scrap. Then the next step is bar analysis using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) technology, so specialists trained in this innovative iteration of X-ray technology study the dental scrap to determine the breakdown of metal composition including gold, silver, platinum and palladium. When you work with Muzeum Dental, you get paid on ALL four precious metals as opposed to just gold, which how some fly-by-night operations conduct their business. For dentists looking to earn extra income by selling gold in Canada, dental scrap could be an avenue that is rarely explored but can end up being impressively lucrative. There isn’t any kind of obligation when you order a free kit through Muzeum Dental, which allows you to send your dental scrap to our precious-metals experts for a free valuation. What is turning heads these days isn’t just the price of gold and the positive trend expected the rest of the year, but also the increasing palladium price.
What the palladium price matters to dentists Palladium is a lustrous white material, and of one of the six platinum-group metals (along with ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium and platinum itself). About 85% of palladium ends up in the exhaust systems in cars, as Bloomberg notes, where it assists in turning toxic pollutants into less-harmful carbon dioxide and water vapor.
But is can also be used in dentistry, where it makes up some fillings, depending on the region where the dentist resides and the era in which the fillings took place. As we reported in a previous blog post, an intriguing fact about palladium is that it has the ability to absorb up to 900 times its own volume in hydrogen, giving it the position to not only be the perfect container to store and also filter hydrogen.
The palladium price has been increasing steadily, as noted by various investors, who note that the growing market for hybrid cars will see global demand for palladium continue to outstrip supply. “In addition, speculators and ETFs are also playing in the space, causing price volatility and supporting the metal’s price trending higher. So, the bull market for palladium is expected to continue.”
As for where the palladium price is headed, Mining.com reports that palladium – which priced around $2,070 US an ounce on Tuesday – will average $2,050 US this year and $2,138 US in 2021, according to the median result from a poll of 32 analysts and traders. For dentists looking to sell gold in Canada through their dental scrap, they shouldn’t neglect any palladium (or silver) fillings they come across via their scrap, which can be turned into cash by engaging with a reputable scrap buyer.
What it takes, though, is for savvy dental professionals to recognize how the gold price, the palladium price and even the silver price work in concert to boost the prospects of that dental scrap being converted into a high return.
Waiting it out, or being indecisive, can lead to dentists missing out on a key moment in gold’s history…and the time in the spotlight enjoyed by the palladium price.
Dental fillings and dental scrap is one of Muzeum Dental’s specialties, so if you have questions about how our refining and assessment process works, and what dental scrap can earn you, contact us anytime. David Silverberg