We buy gold crowns, teeth, partials, and assorted other dental gold in the course of our buisness(coins). Until today I never thought much about the hygiene involved as we don’t extract them on the spot. Usually they come in from dentists, dental patients who have had them removed, etc.
Are we at risk handling these puppies? A local pharmacist told us recently that we could get hepatitis, AIDS, etc. from them should any blood or human matter be left on them. If his knowledge of infectious diseases is a great as his knowledge of numismatics, I’m safe.
I guess my question for any immunologists, et al, is: how long can bad things live on teeth after they have been extracted? Can we be infected, assuming we get something in an open cut? Time frames would be important to know.
I would expect any dentist that sends you extracted filings, crowns, etc, to have them autoclaved before sending them, or atleast chemically treated to kill all the grungies…I wouldnt worry about getting sick from them
Feyn and Guy sound like they’re on the money. Where IS our resident CDC Researcher when we need her??? I seem to remember her saying that Hep was MUCH stronger than HIV, in terms of viability outside of the body. HIV is a filo-virus, and is delicate ( despite it’s incredibly destructive results). I’d say, boiling water and bleach. AND gloves?
I just want to modify my response slightly. I really don’t think that there’s much of a chance that you could catch anything from handling teeth. As kinoons said, dentists probably autoclave any teeth they extract before allowing them out of their office.
HOWEVER, if you are concerned about the risk (however slight it may be), soaking the teeth in a bleach solution and wearing gloves while handling them is a simple and effective method of preventing infection. Better safe than sorry.