Yes, if it's real gold — here's the purity dental crowns actually use, what they're worth, and how selling them differs from other scrap gold.
Published September 28, 2026
Short answer: yes, if it’s genuine gold alloy. Dental crowns and bridges have been made with gold for decades because it’s biocompatible and easy to shape, and a removed crown can be sold for its melt value the same way a ring or chain can — with a couple of quirks specific to dental gold worth knowing before you sell.
Dental gold isn’t stamped with a karat mark the way jewelry is, and it rarely matches common jewelry karats exactly. Most dental alloys fall somewhere between 10k and 22k, with a large share landing around the equivalent of 14k–16k — a mix of gold with metals like silver, copper, platinum, or palladium chosen for strength and biocompatibility rather than color or cost. A dentist or refiner can identify the specific alloy; without documentation, the safest general estimate uses a conservative mid-range purity. See the full Gold Karat & Purity Guide for what each purity is worth per gram.
Many crowns that look gold-colored are actually a non-precious metal alloy, or a porcelain-fused-to-metal crown with only a small precious-metal substructure. A magnet test can help rule out steel-based alloys (real dental gold alloys generally aren’t magnetic), but confirming actual gold content reliably requires a jeweler, refiner, or dentist with testing equipment — see How to Test Gold at Home for the at-home options and their limits.
A single crown typically weighs only 1–4 grams of alloy, so even at a mid-range karat the melt value of one crown is usually modest — often in the tens of dollars — though dentists and oral surgeons who accumulate crowns from many patients over time can end up with a meaningfully larger amount. Use the Gold Calculator with the weight and your best estimate of purity to get a figure at today’s live gold price, and treat it as a starting estimate rather than a guaranteed payout until a refiner assays the actual alloy.
A crown has to be removed by a dentist before it can be sold — it’s a medical procedure, not something to attempt yourself. Once removed, dental gold is typically sold to a specialized dental refiner rather than a general jewelry buyer, since the alloy composition differs from jewelry gold and needs assaying to price accurately. The same lowballing tactics that affect scrap jewelry apply here too — see How to Sell Scrap Gold Safely for how to get a fair offer instead of a fraction of actual melt value.
It varies by alloy, but most dental gold falls roughly between 10k and 22k, with a large share around 14k-16k equivalent. There's no universal stamp like on jewelry, so an exact purity usually requires a dentist's records or a refiner's assay.
The crown itself has to be removed by a dentist as a medical procedure — you can't safely do this yourself. Once it's been removed and given to you, you're free to sell it.
No, similar to other scrap gold, buyers typically pay a percentage of melt value to cover refining and profit margin. Dental-specific refiners are often a better fit than general jewelry buyers, since they're set up to assay dental alloys accurately.
No — some are non-precious alloys or porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns with only a small precious-metal base. A magnet test can rule out some non-gold alloys, but confirming real gold content reliably needs professional testing.