Turning Decades of Dentistry into Value

In dentistry, very few things are truly predictable. Each day brings its own set of surprises—emergency cases, unexpected treatment challenges, shifting patient needs, and last-minute schedule changes. It's a profession that demands flexibility, quick thinking, and resilience. Yet for Dr. Tom Jow, one thing has remained remarkably steady throughout his career: his team.

“My office manager and dental assistant both started with me right when I opened the practice, and after working with me for 35 years, they both decided they wanted to retire,” joked Dr. Jow, who until 4 years ago maintained a successful prosthodontic practice in downtown San Francisco. “To keep a staff for that long is pretty amazing.”

It’s that same loyalty and integrity that Dr. Jow experienced every day with his dental team that he set out to find when it came time to retire and turn years of scrap metal into value. He wanted a company that would handle his life’s work—the crowns and bridges he’d removed over 3 decades—with the same care, honesty, and clear communication that his staff had shown him.

And that’s exactly what he discovered working with Scientific Metals and its owner, Dave Weinberg.

But first, let’s back up a bit.

Searching for the Highest Return

As a prosthodontist, cutting off old crowns is an integral part of the job description—to the point where after his first year in practice, Dr. Jow had a growing collection of gold and other metals. “It was a good sized jar, and I gave it to one of the refining reps who often came by the office,” he explained. “When I got it back, my return was just a few hundred dollars and a small gold coin, which I thought was crazy for the amount of scrap metal I turned in. So, I decided to just save up the restorations I removed over the years, and by the time I was ready to retire, I had almost 23 pounds of scrap metal.”

With his practice winding down, Dr. Jow set out to find the best refinery.

“I decided to do an experiment to make it consistent,” he said. “I separated some gold crowns out that I knew were around 16 karat or 75% gold, and weighed everything really carefully. I sent equal amounts to 4 different refineries, including Scientific Metals, which I had heard good things about from one of my prosthodontist colleagues in Southern California. The differences in the results were pretty shocking.”

Transparency That's Worth Its Weight in Gold

While one assay came back fairly accurate, there were quite a few hidden fees bundled into the price, which resulted in about 35% total fees. Another assay was completely off—containing ratios of gold to palladium that made no sense for this type of yellow gold.

“The local rep who had been coming into the office quoted less than half of what Scientific Metals was offering. In the end, the settlement from Scientific Metals was about 25% higher than the second-highest offer," said Dr. Jow.

A family-owned and -operated company, Scientific Metals prides itself on doing business without sales reps or hidden costs—both of which can eat up a large cut of the scrap return. And when it’s time for a settlement, flexible payment options include check, gold and silver bullion, casting gold, or wire and bank transfer.

“It was pretty amazing—I got 5 ounces of gold bars for that one little bag of scrap crowns,” explained Dr. Jow. “I was impressed by the amount of gold, palladium, and platinum inside the assay, and the company handled everything with accuracy and transparency. I sent another 2 lbs and got double the amount of gold bars, and then gradually, I sent more. Dave, the owner, was very communicative, so by the end, I felt comfortable sending 4 lbs at a time.”

A Refined Approach to a Life’s Work

The process was equally seamless. “It was really secure,” said Dr. Jow. “I sent everything through UPS insured with signature required, and it was fast—they would send me an overnight shipping label, and then I’d send the scrap and track it. Within 3 business days, all the metal had been melted, and Dave would even send me pictures of the melted material so I could see what it looked like. He used x-ray fluorescence to give me a ballpark estimate immediately after melting, but used Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP) for the final assay. He then emailed me the final settlement report detailing the amounts of gold, palladium, silver, and platinum in each lot. The report and gold bars were then shipped to me overnight, UPS insured."

All in all, the whole process took only about a week and a half for each shipment. “I highly recommend Scientific Metals,” said Dr. Jow. “Everything was so honest, and I got the highest return from my scrap metal. I’ve since recommended them to some of my colleagues, and they’ve been very, very happy.”