A recent Telegraph UK article discusses how more patients are requesting to keep their gold braces after they are removed in order to sell them for cash as the value of gold continues to rise.

The article tells of a trend that is growing along with the value of gold: orthodontic patients keeping their gold braces after they are removed so they can sell them to gold dealers.

Asif Chatoo, BDS, MOrth RCS (Eng), co-founder of London Lingual Orthodontic Clinic, told the Telegraph, “Previously the braces were sent away to be recycled. But with gold prices rising, patients have increasingly asked if they can keep their braces and convert them into small items of jewelery or get them melted down.”

Lionel Wainstein, BDS, a specialist orthodontist in London, told the Telegraph, “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.”

“There is a rule that, if it goes into the mouth, it is the property of the patient,” Wainstein added.