[TheForge] Re: Recycled gold

[Mike Spencer]

> There is a difference between "gold" gold and "dental" gold.

And there's more than one kind of "dental" gold.  I'm pretty sure that
the technique that involves pressing gold foil into the cavity with a
burnisher and cold-fusing it with hand pressure uses pure gold.  But
that technique is, I think, pretty old fashioned given the high tech
alloys and ceramics and restorative methods that are now avilable.

And on the original question, I've seen a crematorium consent form --
filled with lots of legal gumbo to protect the company against
outraged heirs or relatives -- that explicitly permits the crematorium
to "dispose of" in any way they please, any metallic detritus in the
"cremains".

Actually, I wondered more about amalgam fillings.  They may be safe in
the mouth (?) but the mercury would vaporize at cremation temps so
living down wind of a crematorium might be hazardous to children
unless amalgam filling are removed first.  (From the remains, not from
the children :-)

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada 
                                 
mspencer@tallships.ca            
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/