BASF created Basotect as a fire proof acoustic and thermal insulation. Porsche uses
it in some cars for sound insulation under the hood. It's an open cell
melamine foam and a few years ago it was discovered that this
foam has some powerful cleaning properties. It's now sold in every
grocery store under the name "magic eraser sponge". You can use
it to remove even the most persistent stains very gently with just a bit of water.
Recently I made an astonishing discovery: You can even use it to remove
dark stains from your teeth!
I get sometimes dark, almost black, stains on my teeth. Some dentists attribute it
to tee and coffee but it must as well have to do with genetics and the
composition of the saliva because I get it much easier than my wife.
Dentists can remove those stains by either using a rotating rubber
with small abrasive particles or by "sand blasting" the
teeth with small salt grains.
Both methods are rather aggressive to the tooth and not pleasant at all.
I had bleeding gums for several hours after my last cleaning at a new dentist .
Looking for a better, more effective and more gentle way to clean
my teeth I tried a piece of "magic eraser sponge". It's the perfect way to remove stains from teeth!
You need a magic eraser sponge and a pair of tweezers
You should however still be careful.
The cleaning has to be done in the right way. Melamine foam
is not toxic and not corrosive but it can easily damage the membranes of skin cells if the sponge rubs along your gums
or any soft skin. Here is how to do it properly:
Break off a small piece from a new and clean "magic eraser sponge". You want
the classic/original "magic eraser sponge" without detergents.
Hold the broken off piece of "magic eraser sponge" between a pair of tweezers and make it wet.
Stand in front of a mirror and rub the broken off sponge piece with the pair of tweezers gently over the dark spots on your teeth. Rub up and down. Never rub
horizontally along the gums. Avoid touching your gums with the sponge.
It's absolutely astonishing how easy it is to remove the black spots. It took me just under 5min to clean all the teeth in my mouth.
Hold a small piece of magic-eraser-sponge between a pair of tweezers and
gently rub off any dark spots on your teeth.
Instead of seeing a dentist every 6 month I buy a 1$ "magic eraser sponge"
and do it my self. Since I do it my self I can easily feel if I touch
my gums accidently with the sponge. The dentist does not feel pain when
he/she accidently "sand blasts" my gums and he notices it when it is too late.
Even if you hit your gums occasionally with the sponge it is not a problem.
That's in contrast to the dental sand-blasting equipment hitting the gums.
Disclaimer/warning
I am not a doctor or a dentist and I can not guarantee that this
is healthy or even safe. Possible side effects or long term
effects of this procedure have not been studied. You try this at
your own risk.
2015 study "Effect of Melamine Sponge on Tooth Stain Removal" by Takero OTSUKA and Toshitsugu KAWATA: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26629557 (local copy of abstract, local copy of article, "Mechanical cleaning by toothbrushing produced polishing scratches on the tooth surface, whereas use of the melamine sponge resulted in only minimal scratches.")
Revision history
January 2013, first version
June 2018, added references to study by Takero Otsuka and Toshitsugu Kawata (thanks to Ron Krumpos for pointing me to that study)
