According to a recent study, people with natural red hair are more nervous about going through a painful experience, such as visiting the dentist. Apparently genetics can explain this phenomenon. Studies have shown that redheads show less response in taking painkiller and they often need a stronger dose for it to have the same effect on them as it would have on people with dark hair.

“I was hurting so bad, I was hitting myself in the stomach,” said Amy Anderson, a redhead from New York. “I almost wanted to hit her.” Her doctor kept assuring her she had given her a proper dose. Despite two injections of anesthetic, Anderson felt like her dentist was jamming rods into her tooth during a root canal. She writhed in pain as her infected tooth was hollowed with a drill, its nerve amputated, and then sealed.

These findings were published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, and they reckon the genetics of red hair lie behind the link of the pain threshold. “Red hair is the result of particular variations in what is called the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, which helps determine pigmentation. While it was once thought that the gene was active only in the skin, hair and eyes, more-recent research has shown that it also functions in the brain, where it may play a role in processing pain, anxiety and fear” according to a report on Health24. So for the new study, researchers looked at whether red hair and MC1R variations were related to people's aversion to seeing the dentist.

What the study revealed was that among the 144 participants, those with MC1R variations reported more anxiety related to visiting a medical practitioner or dentist. They were twice as likely as the other participants to avoid these situations. Nearly all of the natural redheads in the study carried at least one copy of an MC1R variation linked to red hair - 65 of 67 participants. The same was true of roughly one-quarter of the 77 dark-haired study participants. However, when the researchers re-analysed the data they discovered that the MC1R was more likely to be responsible than the actual hair colour.

The results suggest that dentists should ask all patients, but especially redheads, about their anxiety over any procedures they must have and then use "appropriate modalities" to help them manage the problem.

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