Dental Patients Selling USED Gold Braces

There might be an upside to spending your adolescent years being referred to as "metal mouth." Telegraph UK reports that more and more dental patients are selling their gold braces as the price of the precious metal rises. Gold is used for patients who are allergic to nickel, with about 8.5 grams being plastered onto one person's teeth. And gold hit a high of $1226 per ounce earlier this month, so if you do the math...well, you can make a gross sum.

Dr Lionel Wainstein, a specialist orthodontist in London, explained that by law, the braces belong to the patient, who can do what he or she wants with them.

"When you have finished the treatment, the dentist has to remove them and, if you have scrap gold, you can take them it to an assay office. After braces have been used, they are removed from the mouth by the dentist and disposed of. But if they are made of gold, the dentist would be mad to chuck them away."

So, if you don't sell them, your dentist might. This is one gold rush we're happy to have outgrown.