# Say that I had a large bag of teeth . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 8, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-that-i-had-a-large-bag-of-teeth/559902 "2010-11-08T14:22:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-that-i-had-a-large-bag-of-teeth/559902/21 "2010-11-09T11:07:12Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Oooh. Gruesome. > > There are skin stretching techniques used to help victims of severe burns - the scarred skin tends to shrink as it heals. It involves placing balloon-like sacs under the skin and inflating them over time with saline, I believe. Seems to me it would be technically possible to grow yourself a swath of extra skin and harvest it this way. > > Eeygh. No. The artist in me commands that I go on a massively unhealthy binge diet of every item that can be found in a Wal Mart’s frozen breakfast foods section, starting with [chocolate chip pancakes and sausage on a stick](http://lh6.ggpht.com/_TVVDdbRQQfg/SCxo5rN7xbI/AAAAAAAABRw/dj7Ig9y1_9Q/1196540314171.jpg). After a year or two of this, with my weight ballooning up to 400 pounds, I shall then go on the [Subway diet](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSzw5XyVQfY) and drop to 180. And _that_ is where I shall find all the additional skin I need to create my own set of lampshades as well as a photo album of my journey, naturally to be bound in my own skin. As I say, it’s the artist in me. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-that-i-had-a-large-bag-of-teeth/559902/22 "2010-11-09T12:48:44Z")
If the goal is to remove the organic components so the precious metal bits can be sold, you don’t need to go to all that effort. As noted in the article I linked above, the buyers will deal with the organic stuff themselves. The bigger outfits will anyway. The pawnshop on the corner may be a bit more fussy. If we’re just talking hypotheticals, then I’d use heat. A common household torch should be able to heat things up enough to degrade the organic material. Heating it up and dropping it into a glass of water might even cause enough temperature shock to break up the tooth. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-that-i-had-a-large-bag-of-teeth/559902/23 "2010-11-09T15:45:05Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I could also try belly-button lint crochet. Forget crochet, if you get enough you could [do](http://www.flickr.com/photos/55369298@N00/5137748458/in/photostream/) [this](http://www.flickr.com/photos/55369298@N00/5137816472/in/photostream/) with it! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-that-i-had-a-large-bag-of-teeth/559902/24 "2010-11-10T00:45:29Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Gold melts. Teeth oxidize. Do you have access to a kiln? I recommend against this. Gold has a low melting point. Kilns get up in the thousands of degrees. I’d worry the gold will vaporize and be pushed out the exhaust fan. I once put a nickel and a penny in a piece. The nickel blackened. The penny became some frothy yellow crystals. ETA Unless you’d get more money, why not just sell the gold as is? Personally, I have some teeth with gold fillings an uncle saved and left me when he died. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-that-i-had-a-large-bag-of-teeth/559902.md?page=1)