Ellen Cummings talks to Leticia Casanova about charitably repurposing the precious metals used in restorative dentistry.
Although precious metal restorations may have been replaced by other materials such as composite and porcelain, precious metals haven’t entirely disappeared from the dental industry – the issue remains of what to do with the old restorations once they have been removed and replaced. A common practice is for the dental practice to collect this scrap metal and sell it on to a scrap metal company for a percentage of its worth, which is then put back into the practice fund, but now an organisation – started by dentists – is leading the way in giving scrap restorations a higher purpose.
One of these dentists is Leticia Casanova, a specialist periodontist and implant dentist working at London Periodontics and Implant Dentistry in Marylebone. Despite an already extensive record of helping patients, particularly those with diabetes, Leticia is expanding her philanthropic efforts outside the world of dentistry – and she hopes to encourage other dental professionals to do the same.
Gold for Kids is a not-for-profit organisation, founded by Leticia and a group of other dentists in 2018, which donates unwanted precious metal restorations and jewellery to children’s charities. The idea for the organisation came six years ago when Leticia and her husband, implantologist David Holmes, started their practice and came across the problem of the discarded restorations which began piling up. Leticia says, “David said to start collecting the scrap restorations because these things have value. From speaking to patients and getting their thoughts, we started wondering why we didn’t do something good with them.”
Instead of the unregulated practice of selling the old restorations to a scrap metal company and keeping the profit, Leticia and David found a company in Hatton Garden which would help them maximise the worth of their melted gold. Through this they set up a process whereby their collected restorations could regain their value and be used to help children in need. On this decision to donate the money to children’s charities, Leticia says, “Why wouldn’t you want to help children? They’re so innocent. In the UK, more than 4.5 million children are living in poverty, so every crown or bridge which is donated can make a difference.” To this end, Gold for Kids recently donated their first £5,000 to Barnardo’s.
Leticia and her colleagues at Gold for Kids still have executive control over where this money is used, which is a key part of their ethos. Their goal is that the money raised by each dental practice will be used in that dental practice’s local community to help improve the lives of local children, which Leticia says is “important because it’s a community-based project and it’s about dentists creating a connection with their community.”
New practices can get involved by contacting Gold for Kids, which will send them a welcome pack with prepared leaflets, envelopes and consent forms for the patients. Leticia has found that getting consent from patients for their old restorations to be repurposed in this way has been the easiest thing about the scheme, saying, “For a patient, having an infected tooth with a crown on top of it isn’t a nice thing to keep. Most of the crowns aren’t full gold so it’s not even that valuable for them and it’s very difficult to extract that value. Every time we mention it to a patient, they say, ‘Yeah, go for it, that’s a neat idea! I’m so glad that you’re doing this.’” Indeed, patients are so keen to be involved that they have also donated pieces of unwanted gold jewellery. The restorations and jewellery are then collected and sent, via insured postage, to the Hatton Garden company to be melted down and then donated to the practice’s chosen children’s charity.
Gold for Kids doesn’t just have its sights set on helping children in the UK – US corporate Willamette Dental already has 50 practices running the scheme and Leticia also has a network in her native Spain – although Leticia does want to increase awareness in the UK further. She says, “I live in the UK and I would like to establish Gold for Kids more in the UK because I think it would be great if we, as a community of dentists, could do something good for the wider community – but not just dentistry-wise. The idea is to get out of dentistry and move to help the neglect of children or mental health in children or poverty; something that we as dentists don’t have to experience or look at every day.”
There are a number of incentives to encourage practices which may not wish to part with the extra money they can recycle into the practice under their current system. Gold for Kids provides dentists with the chance to contribute to the development of the lives of children in their local community and to be involved with a philanthropic activity which makes a tangible difference. The process also allows patients to donate their restorations, which they paid for, once they are no longer of use to them. The fact that this process is regulated, in contrast to the practice of selling the restorations to scrap metal companies, gives it legitimacy. Participating practices will also be added to Gold for Kids’ registered list of ethical golden dentists and provided with a solidarity certificate to display in their practice. Leticia concludes this by saying, “It’s a great opportunity for us as a community to do something outside of dentistry, using a by-product of our industry which doesn’t really cost us – it’s just a different way of processing the way we work.”
There are a number of ways which dental professionals can get involved with Gold for Kids. Leticia says, “They can call us, they can start collecting scrap metal at the practice, they can do fundraising, they can volunteer by doing phone calls and trying to include other dental practices, so they can take the project to their communities and their area. I’ve mainly touched on London because that’s where I live and practise, but nobody in Scotland or Ireland is doing it. They would totally have a say in where the money goes.”
Although Gold for Kids is in its early days, it has great potential to change the lives of children not just in the UK, but on a global scale. Dental professionals spend their working lives helping their local community by tending to their oral health, but Gold for Kids gives them the opportunity to step outside the world of dentistry and make a difference by repurposing a by-product of their industry at no extra cost to themselves.
For more information about Gold for Kids call 020 7563 9989, email info@goldforkids.com or visit www.goldforkids.org