Regional
(2009-07-13)
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GREELEY, CO
(KUNC) -
Blondes may have more fun - but redheads are more likely to suffer pain when going to the dentist or during minor surgical procedures. And - according to KUNC commentator Dr. Marc Ringel - is has nothing to do with social stereotypes.
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Many years ago, when I was a wee lad of a medical student, I listened in on this conversation between a couple of anesthesiologists:
"Well, I put her to sleep and her pressure dropped, pulse went through the roof. Scared the hell out of me. She was a redhead."
"Figures," his colleague responded.
When I asked my mentor what this meant, all he could say was, "Redheads are different."
I never looked further into the issue. Nor have I, as a physician, experienced the uniqueness of red headedness, except when it comes to sunburns. Even as a layman I've not been convinced that the added spiciness that carrot-tops are reputed to manifest is the result of anything but audience expectation.
Now I've come across an article which shows that redheads may really be different, starting with the genes that give their hair its characteristic color and their skin its freckles. The article, titled "Genetic variations associated with red hair color and fear of dental pain, anxiety regarding dental care and avoidance of dental care," was just published in the Journal of the American Dental Association. It's a fascinating piece.
First a little cultural commentary. The article abstract describes 144 participants, 67 of whom were natural redheads, 77 dark-haired. Note that the authors felt the need to specify that the redheads were natural, but not so for the dark-haired subjects. Apparently, being a redhead is desirable enough that the researchers needed to exclude impostors. Another sign of some sort of cultural expectation based on pigmentation.
Now for the science. Red hair is associated with the gene that encodes the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R), a chemical that resides on the surface of epidermal cells, helping to determine the balance of pigments that go into making skin and hair color. That same gene is also associated with resistance to the effects of local anesthetics. Hence the dental connection.
The study's authors drew blood from the participants. They found that 65 of 67 of the natural redheads had MC1R genes, whereas only 20 of 77 of the dark-haired subjects did. Then they gave the same people well-validated surveys designed to measure general anxiety, anxiety about dental pain, and avoidance of dental care.
The researchers controlled for generalized anxiety, which means that they accounted statistically for any tendency to be nervous about everything but trips to the dentist. When they analyzed all the data, the report's authors found a really strong correlation between the MC1R gene and fear of dental care, fear of dental pain, and avoidance of dental care. The association was also present for red hair color, but not as strongly as it was for bearers the MC1R gene variant.
Here's the explanation. Most redheads carry a variant of the MC1R gene that makes them resistant to local anesthesia, which makes dental procedures more painful for them than it is for your average non-redhead, which makes redheads more afraid of dentists and keeps them from getting their mouths taken care of.
So, almost forty years later, it turns out that those anesthesiologists were right. Redheads really are different. Now we may even have an inkling as to why.
© Copyright 2012, KUNC
