Aren't you glad you have a dentist lurking on this list?  I would like to
make two points concerning the use of saliva as a cleaning fluid.  1.
Saliva is principally water, but may contain several things that are
beneficial to the saliva producer, and is itself mechanically beneficial.
Contents may include enzymes, beneficial bacteria, sugars, antibodies, to
name a few.  The concept that saliva is a good tooth cleaner is not valid.
Enzymatic action is dandy for breaking down protein, but you may not have
much protein either on your disk or on your teeth.  Saliva bathes mouth
surfaces, causing the benefits one might expect of bathing.  If it was a
good tooth cleaner, Colgate, Crest and Oral B wouldn't be in business.  2.
This probably should be point 1. Saliva is a bodily fluid.  In case the
record and art conservators of the world aren't aware, bodily fluids are an
issue these days.  There are things in the saliva of some folks that you
don't want on your record.  Just one small example might be tuberculosis
bacilli, which can live a long time.  Bottom line, saliva is at best a
contaminated fluid, and I would not be anxious to own a record cleaned with
it.


On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 9:46 AM, H D Goldman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Allison,
>
> None of the surfaces you refer to are coated with a fine film of
> mould-release waxes which are the most difficult contaminants to safely
> remove from most disc recordings [excluding lacquers].
>
> Duane Goldman
>
>
> On Jun 23, 2014, at 8:11 AM, Smith, Allison <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >
> http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20020407&slug=wcleanpaintings
> >
> > It's actually quite common to use saliva to clean surface dirt and grime
> from art and collectibles in the conservation / museum community.  I've
> seen many a conservator use this method over the years.
> >
> > I don't see why it couldn't work for records -
> >
> > Here's an article that talks about the spit method used in museum
> conservation labs.
> >
> > Allison
>
> H D Goldman Lagniappe Chemicals Ltd.
> PO Box 37066 St. Louis, MO 63141 USA
> v/f 314 205 1388 [log in to unmask]
>



-- 
Frank B Strauss, DMD