08/28/2026
So if extracted wisdom teeth can be sent off for students and researchers to study, what gives? 🤨 Are you not allowed to keep your own teeth after they’re removed?
Skipping over why you might want to keep your extracted teeth😅 it is technically NOT 🙅 illegal to do so in the United States. However, there are a few things to keep in mind:
☝️ This does NOT mean an oral surgeon will let you keep the tooth upon request. Because of the biohazardous nature of extracted wisdom teeth, every practice has their own individual policies on the matter.
☝️ If they DO allow for this, they’ll likely have to sterilize the tooth before giving it back to you. It’s important to talk to the oral surgeon about this in advance so they can prepare properly.
☝️ If your tooth has a metal filling, do NOT attempt to remove it yourself! Filling removal has to be done carefully by a specialist in order to avoid mercury exposure. ☣️
☝️ Selling teeth is highly restricted. So if you wanted to keep your wisdom tooth for the cash value 🤨 you’ll want to reconsider.
There you have it – kind of a weird fact, but the more you know!😂