Does Rubbing a Banana Peel on Your Teeth Whiten Them?

By Amber-Lee, IRDH16 Years Experience

~25 sec watchVideo FAQ

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Quick Answer

No. A banana peel has no bleaching agent in it, so rubbing it on your teeth does not remove stain or change their colour. What it does do is coat your teeth in fruit sugar. Doing that every day feeds the bacteria that cause cavities, so the hack carries a real risk and no benefit.

More about professional teeth whitening in Riverview.

Answered by the team at Bright White Dental Hygiene Clinic in Riverview, NB, serving Moncton and Dieppe.

Key Takeaways

1No bleach, no stain removal, no whitening.
2Fruit sugar on your teeth every day raises your cavity risk.
3Real whitening uses a gel that works inside the tooth.

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Video Transcript: Does Rubbing a Banana Peel on Your Teeth Whiten Them?

Full transcript of the video answer on whether a banana peel whitens teeth, given by Amber-Lee, IRDH, at Bright White Dental Hygiene Clinic in Riverview, NB, serving Moncton and Dieppe.

Question: Does Rubbing a Banana Peel on Your Teeth Whiten Them?

“Rubbing a banana peel on your teeth? Here's what's actually happening. This banana peel hack, it's not real. There's no bleaching agent in the banana. Rubbing it on the surface does not remove any stain. It does not whiten any teeth. If you're using banana peels, you're putting all that fruit sugar on your teeth all of the time, and you're leaving them at risk for decay. So you could get more cavities. If you have any teeth questions about this, just leave them in the comments.”

Why a Peel Cannot Whiten

Whitening means changing the colour of the tooth itself. That takes a bleaching agent, such as the peroxide in whitening gel, which soaks into the tooth and breaks down stain inside it. A banana has nothing that does that. The peel is soft, too, so it cannot even scrub surface stain off.

The Part That Does Harm

Amber-Lee's concern is the sugar. Bacteria in plaque feed on sugar and give off acid, and that acid is what starts a cavity. Rubbing a peel on your teeth every day keeps sugar on them far longer than eating a banana does.

What to Do Instead

For surface stain from coffee, tea or wine, a professional cleaning and polish is the first step. To change the shade, Bright White offers one-hour in-chair whitening for $350 plus tax, or custom take-home trays for $300 plus tax.

Whitening takes teeth to their own natural white, not to a paper white. Amber-Lee will tell you where yours are starting from before you spend anything.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions people search right after this one.

It will not whiten your teeth, and doing it every day leaves fruit sugar on them, which raises the risk of decay. It is not worth doing.

A whitening gel with a bleaching agent, applied in the chair or with custom trays at home. Cleaning and polishing removes surface stain, but only whitening changes the shade of the tooth itself.

At Bright White Dental Hygiene Clinic, one-hour in-chair whitening is $350 plus tax and custom take-home trays are $300 plus tax. The trays can be reused for years.

Short video answers from Amber-Lee, IRDH — 16 years experience.