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Practice Solutions: Heraeus Kulzer Precious Metal Refining by Dr. Michelle Caldwell

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Header: How Much is Your Dental Scrap Worth?

Dr. Michelle Caldwell
a graduate of Creighton University Dental School, has owned her Denver practice for 12 years. She performs a wide range of procedures, including extractions, implants, root canals, prosthetics, and periodontal surgery.

Many so-called refiners call or visit my office in Lakewood, Colorado.

My practice prides itself on taking care of as many patients' needs as possible and keeping up with all of the new technology in the dental field. We always have a full daily schedule of patients and unfortunately have never been able to devote much time or effort figuring out how to convert all of our scrap metal into cash.

I always said to myself, "I don't have time to worry about the scrap material because we are simply too busy."

As a result, when the person who normally took my scrap metal stopped by my office and said he would give me cash on the spot, I didn't stop to think if that would be the best choice.

He offered to pay $1,400 on the spot, which sounds like a lot, but this was around the same price he would always quote me. I had been watching the prices of precious metal and knew they were very high. Why was I still getting the same amount of money?

I decided not to accept his cash offer and opted to try Heraeus Kulzer Precious Metal Refining, which had been referred to me by another dentist. Luckily, Tony Circelli, the company's refining manager, was in the Denver area visiting a large dental laboratory customer that week. He was able to fit us into his visit and offered to stop by the office.

When he arrived, I handed him a bag containing the crowns, and other metals we had collected. He walked us through filling out a short form used to identify the shipment (that we kept as our receipt), placed everything into a free shipping container, and arranged for a UPS pickup free of charge.

He asked me not to tell him what the middleman offered him, so I could rule out any biases in the final dollar he would quote me. That was it, very simple—it took no more than five minutes.

In less than 10 days, Heraeus Kulzer received, melted, and assayed the scrap metal. Circelli called me with the dollar amount of $5600. Needless to say I was shocked, very happy, and angry at the same time. With the check, I also received a detailed assay report of the precious metal recovered. I had a hunch that the middleman's offer was low, but had no idea just how bad a deal it would have been for me. I knew right then and there that I wanted to share this information with all my fellow dentists who are using these middlemen and are getting an unfair return for their scrap metal.

According to Circelli, there are several reasons for the significant discrepancy between Heraeus Kulzer's payment and what the middleman offered me.

"It is impossible to accurately determine the true value of precious metal scrap until it has been melted and assayed," Circelli explained. "For example, a yellow metal could be as high as 75 percent gold, or it could be 35 percent. Similarly, a white metal could be two to 55 percent gold, or it could be nickel, chrome, iron, cobalt, or some other non-precious metal. If someone makes you a cash offer based only on a visual inspection, they're always going to base it on the low end of the possible value range, which means the customer will get 30–40 percent less than sending to an end refiner."

I learned that in addition, many refiners lack the state-of-the-art technology to efficiently extract the maximum amount of precious metal from the scrap they refine. Some refiners pay much less than others because of questionable ethics.

"The only true way of determining how much precious metal is in a scrap lot is to melt it and do a full assay. This cannot be done on the spot or in a day or two," Circelli said.

For this reason, Circelli recommends that dental practices work directly with refiners and not middlemen.

"I've been in this business for 40 years and the sad truth is that not all precious metal refiners feel a moral obligation to give their customers the best possible return," he said.

Circelli says that dental laboratories have historically been more diligent about maximizing the value they receive for their scrap metal than dental practices. Because labs have to purchase the precious metals they use to create crowns and other prostheses, they're typically more acutely aware of the value of the scrap that accumulates in their facilities.

"Labs view precious metals as a raw material cost from a business standpoint, so they spend time researching the best method of refining their precious metal scrap to reduce this cost. They have found sending it to direct refiners with a reputation for paying fair prices is the best practice," Circelli said. "Labs pay a markup above intrinsic value when they purchase their alloy and they look for the best refiner to offset those costs. This is why middlemen tend to focus more on dental practices than on labs. Practices are too busy to spend the time researching the best options and dentists really have no idea of what type of metal they are extracting."

With the high prices of precious metal, it is more important than ever to recognize the advantages of choosing a direct refiner. More and more dental practices are foregoing cash-on-the-spot offers from middlemen. With just a little patience and research, direct refiners can increase dental practice revenues by thousands of dollars annually.

I will never again use that person who walks into my office and offers cash on the spot or an unbelievable turnaround time, now that I know how much more money I'll be paid, and how easy the process is working directly with a refiner.

I never realized what a big difference in return I would receive just by dealing with a direct refiner like Heraeus Kulzer. All I want is for me and my fellow dentists to get paid fair market value for our scrap.



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