Something caught my
attention these days as I saw a post from one of my friends on Facebook. She
said: “Banana peels can help you to get a great smile whitening your teeth!”
huh! I thought… that explains a lot about monkey’s denture. But I wanted to
know more about this, and about the scientific basis of this myth. So I went on
doing a little research, hoping to find scientific papers, or any scientific
basis behind this post. After spending a few hours trying to find some scientific
journal talk about the relationship between bananas and a beautiful smile, I
gave up and decided to go into some blogs and webpages discussing this issue. To
my surprise I found the phrase: “minerals like
the potassium, magnesium and manganese present in this peel (banana’s) get
absorbed into your teeth and works from the interior to brighten them” copy and pasted in the exact same way in more
than 20 blogs and websites with no reference whatsoever. I was thinking then,
why would people repeat this phrase so many times if there is not a basis?
There must be something somewhere! So I started looking for the effects of
potassium, magnesium and manganese on teeth. I found an article from the Japanese Journal of Conservative Dentistry.
In this article’s results they suggest that potassium nitrate dentifrice containing silica as a
polishing agent on the dentine surface may be effective for the treatment of
dentine hypersensitivity. However, I found nothing related
to teeth whitening. I went on searching and found an article on Nexus magazine
a taking about a study in New Zealand. They found that caries-resistant teeth
had on average twice the amount of magnesium as caries-prone teeth. They said: “In regard to the strength of bones
and teeth, think of calcium as chalk and magnesium as superglue”. However, I
had no luck in finding something about teeth whitening and magnesium. I had no
luck with manganese either, but, I did find some articles that pointed that
manganese is a component of teeth and bones. So, what do we say then? Are
bananas yummy? Yes! Are they good for your health because they contain
potassium which maintain the resting potential in cell membranes? Yes! Are they
good to whiten your teeth? I don’t know, some people in the blogs I visited
commented on having good results with banana peel, others didn’t. I will still
be using my old clinically proved toothpaste until we have available some
scientific evidence. In the meantime, keep eating your fruit and vegetables and
make momma happy!
