If you travel around the central Asian "stans", especially Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan - you'll notice that a surprisingly large number of people, especially olde

If you travel around the central Asian "stans", especially Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan - you'll notice that a surprisingly large number of people, especially older people, have gold teeth. They didn't do this as a fashion statement - being able to escape with whatever gold you could carry was a means of survival against a brutal communist regime. My own great grandparents escaped during the partition of my country by bartering my great grandmother's gold bangles and earrings for safe passage. The government can and will try to quash dissidence. That doesn't mean you have to make it completely easy for them and hand over complete control on a silver platter.