# What would you pay to not have to reuse your dental crown you'd swallowed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104 "2017-10-29T00:29:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![molten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ec9cab/32.png) [@molten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/molten)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/21 "2017-10-29T16:28:48Z")
If it is a gold crown I’d melt the gold and sell it. If it isn’t, I’d burn it and reduce all the organic matter to ashes, then it wouldn’t bother me that much. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/22 "2017-10-29T17:01:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’d want to retrieve it and KNOW that the crown didn’t get stuck inside me. > > Bowel obstructions can be serious. Dental crowns aren’t that big. I rather doubt he swallowed [a crown.](https://www.google.com/search?biw=1502&bih=784&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=4wj2Wf_VIqakjwS_vICIAg&q=royal+crown&oq=royal+crown&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l2j0i67k1j0j0i67k1l2j0l4.5752.8739.0.9081.11.11.0.0.0.0.626.2191.0j9j5-1.10.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.10.2188....0.seKVXmIRwyg#imgdii=8zEYv9nXd29ENM:&imgrc=p6RucpkIRCAV_M:) ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/23 "2017-10-29T17:28:42Z")
Sure, reuse it. I’d tell the dentist, though, because for all I know a trip through the digestive system does something to make a crown unsound. I don’t care that much what the price difference is, but I guess if the only difference was less than an hour’s wage I’d probably go to little trouble to reuse it. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/24 "2017-10-29T17:45:58Z")
I’d worry little about the crown’s poo-contamination. I’d worry a little about what the contact with my digestive juices and the like might have done to the crown. I’d worry most, though, about the state of mind of the person coming up with such a hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/25 "2017-10-30T01:36:13Z")
Pretty much this ^^. Poop washes off. Period. \*tres \*easy. If crowns cost $5 I’d as soon not mess with the hassle of cleaning the bulk of the poop out of my shower. The fact I’d later have to clean a smidgen of poop off the crown is negligible by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/26 "2017-10-30T01:41:33Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Oh, sure, like _YOU_ don’t shit in the shower… 😛 One time my toilet shit in my shower. That was bad enough to clean. As for the crown, I’m getting a new one. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/27 "2017-10-30T02:31:02Z")
Umm i think i’d go vomit in a colander first, less problems. Otherwise scrub it shove it in an autoclave and put it back in my mouth. Its porcelain, not like it cant be scrubbed and heated hot enough to totally disinfect it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/28 "2017-10-30T02:33:30Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Well, so that you don’t have to… > > You have a better idea for how to retrieve it? You gonna stick your hand in the toilet bowl water? Take a butter knife to a pile on a newspaper? > > I have my plan. What’s _your_ plan? You’d still have to root through your poop, though. What difference does it make whether it’s in the toilet or the shower? And I’ll have the added task of scrubbing shit off of my shower, rather than just the usual rinse with some cleaner. AND if you don’t find it the first time, you’re gonna have to do it more than once. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/29 "2017-10-30T03:22:11Z")
As far as reusing the crown, in my office if it still fits and the underlying tooth is still intact we will recement it for about $75. If there is a problem with the tooth or crown then we will need to make a new one, about $1000. Fees are very variable by office and region of country. If the crown is gold or porcelain with a metal substrate there would be a fair chance of distortion if is was knocked off in a fight. The gold value of a gold crown isn’t much. It has been over 27 years since I’ve waxed and cast my own crowns back then there was only about 1-2 pennyweights of gold in a crown, about $25. I am sure it is a more now but probably less then $50. Don’t make very many gold crowns these days. I personally wouldn’t try to recover the crown. Generally it will pass with no problem and I’d take my chances. Things can go wrong however. We had a student in my class whose patient swallowed a gold crown the student was attempting to place. It was just before Christmas. Patient had an emergency appendectomy the next summer and the crown was in the appendix. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/30 "2017-10-30T04:36:10Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I have my plan. What’s _your_ plan? Don’t swallow my dental work. It’s worked for me so far. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/31 "2017-10-30T05:20:01Z")
I had a dentist drop a crown into the back of my throat. Fortunately, I stifled the swallow reflex and didn’t attempt to inhale it. Had I actually swallowed it I doubt I would have attempted this method. ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/32 "2017-10-30T05:22:57Z")
My Dentist suggested this exact course of action, the loose tooth was found in the you know what, got cleaned and put back in. I was glad to have spared the expense of a new crown. I have had experiences that seem to have had a much more unpleasant aspect than that. Guess your mileage may vary. Zuer-coli ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/33 "2017-10-30T13:34:24Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > … > Generally it will pass with no problem and I’d take my chances. Things can go wrong however. We had a student in my class whose patient swallowed a gold crown the student was attempting to place. It was just before Christmas. Patient had an emergency appendectomy the next summer and the crown was in the appendix. Thanks Doc for injecting some expertise into the discussion. Ref the war story above, I hope the patient didn’t blame you (or worse yet sue you or the school) over their appendix problems. Now that we have some fairly real numbers I wonder how many people will refuse to touch their own poop to save a grand? Heck, I could make a pretty good living coming to people’s houses to dig through their poop for $1K a shot. > [@Jophiel](#): > > > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > > > … > > I have my plan. What’s _your_ plan? > > Don’t swallow my dental work. It’s worked for me so far. Have only original homegrown 100% certified organic parts in my mouth. It’s worked for me so far. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/34 "2017-10-30T16:57:04Z")
wasn’t me, another student in my class ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/35 "2017-10-30T17:17:53Z")
I heard a woman tell the story about swallowing her tongue jewelry. Her piercer told her if she recovered the jewelry from her feces they could autoclave and reinsert it. She stuck out her tongue and showed us her jewelry. I told her that for $10 she could have purchased new, thereby avoiding rooting around in her poop. She cried. Nobody told her she could do that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/36 "2017-10-30T17:21:16Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Handle your own poo all you want. I don’t intend to get used to it. Straight down the crapper is where it belongs. Yeah - deal with it if I need to - I don’t intend to practice just in case. I mean, I don’t want to lie on my deathbed and regret all that familiarisation with my own poo, and never the need or opportunity to make an Eskimo shit-knife. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/37 "2017-10-30T17:24:30Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You have a better idea for how to retrieve it? You gonna stick your hand in the toilet bowl water? Take a butter knife to a pile on a newspaper? > > I have my plan. What’s _your_ plan? Whoa, dude! This is hardly the sort of thing one _needs_ a plan for. Unless this is a “need answer fast” thread, chances are excellent that this will never happen to a currently active Doper, let alone anyone in this thread. And as **Guin** implied, if you’ve got to go through your own poop, why is the water in the toilet bowl considered gross? Because you _poop_ in it, that’s why. If you’re going through your poop, the grossness of the toilet water is trivial by comparison. Of course, you could: first, turn off the water to your toilet. Second, flush the toilet twice. (The first time, the bowl will refill because there’s water in the toilet tank. The second time, there will be no water in the tank, so the bowl won’t refill.) Now you’ve got a more or less empty toilet bowl, so third, take a crap in the toilet. After you’ve dissected the poop in the bowl for your missing crown and either found it or given up the hunt, turn the water to your toilet back on, and flush as usual. You still need to wash the poop off your hands, but you’d have to do that anyway. If it were me, I’d wash my hands real good in the toilet bowl before exposing my sink or tub to whatever poop germs remained on my hands. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/38 "2017-10-30T17:31:21Z")
There wouldn’t be anything on that crown that didn’t get there by going in your mouth in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/39 "2017-10-30T17:50:10Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > wasn’t me, another student in my class Aaah. I’d interpreted “your class” as one you’d been teaching, not attending. Just as well. In some businesses it’s far better to learn from other’s mistakes than from our own. As we both well know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104/40 "2017-10-30T18:35:27Z")
I have mentioned that I am a retired plumber, I don’t think specifics are needed, none the less there are any number of times I have been in direct contact with human waste, what was just one of the things a plumber does. I have never done a significant amount of sewer cleaning, but that is also a trade where contact with human waste is just a given. In Northern Indiana the going rate for a plumbing service call was $75 to $100, the first hour usually included one way travel. As a working plumber I never got anything close to that. I haven’t keep track, but the last time I saw a comparison, densely populated urban areas were anywhere from twice to four times higher. Zuer-coli [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-pay-to-not-have-to-reuse-your-dental-crown-youd-swallowed/800104.md?page=3)