Funeral myths – gold teeth and metal implants

BEREAVEMENT COLUMN

On several occasions, clients have asked me to harvest their loved ones gold teeth or metal implants prior to burial or cremation. This is not something that I do. In fact, I am unaware of any funeral directors who would consider such an act as ethical.
In the state of Texas, it is illegal for a funeral director or embalmer to mutilate a deceased human body. Indeed, in my opinion, pulling out the teeth of a decedent or cutting into their bodies to retrieve metal hips or knees would fall under an act of mutilation.
When client families request such items from within the bodies of their deceased loved ones, I politely suggest to them that they hire the services of their dentist or surgeon to excise the requested items. To date, I have never had a family member follow through with such an act.
I also had a decedent, when he was setting up his pre-need, tell me that he wanted me to excise his gold teeth and give them to his son. I politely informed him that I was not a licensed dentist and that his dentist would need to come to the funeral home to perform the harvest of his teeth. Once he checked out the expense of hiring his dentist to carry out his request, he realized that the cost would far outweigh any funds his son might receive by selling his teeth to the local jeweler for scrap gold. It turned out to be extremely cost-prohibitive.
If you have items within the bodies of your deceased loved ones that you would like harvested prior to burial or cremation, it might be a good idea to research the cost of post-mortem surgery against the anticipated return of selling.

My name is Tracy Renee Lee. I am a Certified Grief Counselor (GC-C), Funeral Director (FDIC), published author, syndicated columnist, Podcaster, and founder of the “Mikey Joe Children’s Memorial” and Heaven Sent, Corp. I write books, weekly bereavement articles, Podcasts, and Grief BRIEFs related to understanding and coping with grief. I am the American Funeral Director of the Year Runner-Up and recipient of the BBB’s Integrity Award.

For additional encouragement, please visit my podcast “Deadline” on Spotify and follow me on Instagram at “Deadline_TracyLee.”