I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant

In article 1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02, Grant Erwin wrote:
I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

The coke doesn't work. I am in the same boat, and it barely touched the
tooth (if at all) before it went moldy.

Still looking for a good approach...

Doug White

On Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:28:14 GMT, (Doug White)
wrote:

The coke doesn't work. I am in the same boat, and it barely touched the
tooth (if at all) before it went moldy.

Still looking for a good approach...

Dilute HCl, .1 N dissolves Hydroxyapatite. In the absence of nitrate,
this will not dissolve the gold, though it may extract alloying metals
such as copper from the surface, leaving a frosty surface.
You can speed this up in a beaker floating in an ultrasonic cleaner.
This cavitates the organic materials as well as speeding up the
dissolution of the HA.

Coke will not work because it is a very dilute solution of phosphoric
acid, which gave rise to stories about it removing rust from bumpers.

HA can be prepared from H3PO4 and CaOH2 .

"Grunty Grogan" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:28:14 GMT, (Doug White)
wrote:

The coke doesn't work. I am in the same boat, and it barely touched the
tooth (if at all) before it went moldy.

Still looking for a good approach...

Dilute HCl, .1 N dissolves Hydroxyapatite. In the absence of nitrate,
this will not dissolve the gold, though it may extract alloying metals
such as copper from the surface, leaving a frosty surface.
You can speed this up in a beaker floating in an ultrasonic cleaner.
This cavitates the organic materials as well as speeding up the
dissolution of the HA.

Coke will not work because it is a very dilute solution of phosphoric
acid, which gave rise to stories about it removing rust from bumpers.

HA can be prepared from H3PO4 and CaOH2 .

EDTA might work. Dissolves egg shells readily.
--
DT

"Grant Erwin" wrote: (clip) I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola
actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It must be pretty slow--else most of the population would be toothless. I
suggest tap-tap-tap with a small hammer. Or leave the tooth in, and have a
jeweler add a small ring, so you can wear it on a chain around your neck.
:-)

Grant Erwin wrote:
I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant

Try heat. I think the glue would fail before the gold would melt.
RR

"Grant Erwin" wrote
in message news:1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02...
I had a tooth extracted today. It had been
crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of
course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola
actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth
from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant

Try a stronger acid. The Phosphoric and Citric
acids in Coke are weak and slow.

Maybe HCL/Muriatic? Might even try a little
battery electrolyte --that's
Sulfuric.

Don't try a mix of Nitric and Sulfuric:-)

BillM wrote:

Don't try a mix of Nitric and Sulfuric:-)

Or Nitric and Hydrochloric = Aqua Regia. :-)
...lew...

"Lew Hartswick" wrote
in message
m...
BillM wrote:

Don't try a mix of Nitric and Sulfuric:-)
Or Nitric and Hydrochloric = Aqua Regia. :-)
...lew..

My bad. For some reason I had it in my head
that Aqua Regia was nitric/sulfuric.

Bill.

Grant Erwin writes:

Is that a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold
crown?

No.

Is there a better one?

Melt it out with a propane torch. Improvise a casting crucible by grinding
and compressing bentonite clay (hidden in the grocery store disguised as
the cheapest unscented store-brand kitty litter). Or from silicate furnace
cement.

Gold dealers will give you about half the bullion value of the gold scrap.
They're in it for a profit. Likely no more than $50 or $100 cash for an
old crown, so it may not even be worth the trouble. But you could play
with the jewelry style of metalworking, say casting and finishing a finger
ring.

"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
news:1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02...
I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant

Hammer.

Tom Gardner wrote:
"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
news:1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02...

I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant


Hammer.



That's kind of what I am thinking. I'll try that tomorrow, let you know
what happened.

Grant

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:44:26 GMT, Grant Erwin
wrote:

Tom Gardner wrote:
"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
news:1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02...

I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant


Hammer.



That's kind of what I am thinking. I'll try that tomorrow, let you know
what happened.

Grant
A propane torch will just burn out the tooth from the gold.
ERS

In article ,
wrote:

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:44:26 GMT, Grant Erwin
wrote:

Tom Gardner wrote:
"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
news:1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02...

I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant


Hammer.



That's kind of what I am thinking. I'll try that tomorrow, let you know
what happened.

Grant
A propane torch will just burn out the tooth from the gold.

Beware mercury fumes. The gold in crowns may be or contain mercury-gold
amalgam, not just gold-copper casting alloy.

Joe Gwinn

I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They
gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is
that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant

That's kind of what I am thinking. I'll try that tomorrow, let you know
what happened.

Grant
A propane torch will just burn out the tooth from the gold.

Beware mercury fumes. The gold in crowns may be or contain mercury-gold
amalgam, not just gold-copper casting alloy.

Joe Gwinn

why not tap with a hammer and break up the tooth - the gold is maleable and
the tooth is not


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
wrote:

On Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:44:26 GMT, Grant Erwin
wrote:

Tom Gardner wrote:
"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
news:1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02...

I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant

Hammer.


That's kind of what I am thinking. I'll try that tomorrow, let you know
what happened.

Grant
A propane torch will just burn out the tooth from the gold.

Beware mercury fumes. The gold in crowns may be or contain mercury-gold
amalgam, not just gold-copper casting alloy.

Joe Gwinn


Gold crowns are not made from amalgams. Gold amalgams are used for
fillings. Silver amalgam fillings are always removed before a tooth is
crowned.

The reason that an amalgam filled tooth gets a crown in the first place,
is mostly, that there is new decay around or even under the filling, so
the tooth has to be cleaned and the amalgam is removed to make place for
either an inlay, overlay or a full crown. You cannot prep a tooth
properly for a crown, with the amalgam still in place.

It not necessary to put a torch to a tooth with a crown still on it.
Since the tooth has already been extracted, it will have become brittle
rather rapidly, because it is no longer fed by blood vessels and nerves.
Just take a pair of pliers to it, and it'll break in pieces quite easily.

BTW, before I became a goldsmith, I spent three years in dental school
at the university of Amsterdam trying to become a dentist.

--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 01:22:12 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Tom
Gardner" quickly quoth:


"Grant Erwin" wrote in message
news:1e4mk.309$xv.240@trnddc02...
I had a tooth extracted today. It had been crowned with gold. They gave me
back the gold crown, tooth still in it of course.

I seem to recall hearing that Coca-Cola actually dissolves teeth. Is that
a workable solution to removing the old tooth from the gold crown? Is
there a better one?

Grant

Hammer.

What, and ruin the shape of the thing you're selling to be melted?

---
Chaos, panic, and disorder--my work here is done.