(Mercury poisoning from inhaling mercury vapor is something you definitely want to avoid.) Metal recycling centers distill the mercury from the amalgam filling, and that mercury can then be used in products like laboratory thermometers, thermostats, and fluorescent light bulbs.īesides being thrown out or recycled, extracted teeth can help educate the next generation of dentists. Classified as hazardous waste, teeth with amalgam fillings cannot be incinerated because the heat could cause the mercury to be released into the air. If the teeth have amalgam fillings, though, dentists need to send the teeth to a licensed recycling center that processes metals. Dental offices pay medical waste management companies to pick up the containers and incinerate the teeth along with other biomedical waste. Because pulled teeth may have tiny amounts of blood, saliva, or tissue residue on them, they are potentially infectious materials. If dentists want to dispose of pulled teeth, they must throw them out in specially marked medical waste containers. If patients choose not to take their pulled teeth home with them, the teeth can go a variety of places. The only caveat is that the dental office should properly disinfect the teeth before handing them back to the patient. These organizations allow for dentists to return extracted teeth to their patients, if the patients request it. After enduring a visit to the dentist to get a tooth pulled, you might wonder-as the novocaine starts to wear off-what happens to teeth after they’re extracted?Īlthough some dentists tell their patients that it’s against the rules for patients to take their pulled teeth home as a memento, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Dental Association, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines say otherwise.
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