3 Answers

I think the funeral director must sell them and keep the money. Bridges, who wants to buy bridges? Perhaps he could sell them to nursing homes.

The wishes of the deceased's next of kin are usually respected. 

I found this on the web it is a good read.

My father once told me of his final wishes, that he wanted all of his gold fillings extracted and did not want the funeral home to get them. Years later when he died, I remembered this when my mom was going through the cremation contract with the funeral home but she was upset enough and I didn't bring it up. The contract specifically mentioned that gold fillings would not be returned. I attended the entire cremation procedure, and after the ashes had cooled and the technician had cleaned out the chamber, I told the technician of my father's wishes and asked him about the gold. He told me it all would have vaporized. I doubted this (indeed, the vaporization point of gold is over 2000 degrees C, not F). He then ran the bone fragments and cremains through a grinder and separator (to separate bits of metal) from the cremains. I distinctly heard metal fragments bouncing around on the separator screen but the technician told me those were the metal snaps from his hospital gown and I didn't press the issue.
I still feel like I failed my father's wishes, but found myself unable to assert myself at the time. Some cremation information websites do mention that crematoriums often ask the family if they want any gold returned to them. I really feel like, in our case, the funeral home (or at least the technician) did scavenge the gold.

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/retirement/727478-has-anyone-ever-had-gold-crowns-4.html#ixzz1lDpP6dlX