Some Reheads are More Sensitive to Pain

Principessa

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Study: Redheads' extra pain may cause fear of dentists


By Madison Park
CNN

(CNN) -- Despite two injections of anesthetic, Amy 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. "I knew this time something was wrong. I could feel my lips," said the Syracuse, New York, resident, who told her dentist the drugs weren't working. Her doctor kept assuring her she had given her a proper dose and said: "I'm almost done." "I was hurting so bad, I was hitting myself in the stomach," said Anderson, a redhead. "I almost wanted to hit her."

Studies have indicated that redheads may be more sensitive to pain and may need more anesthetics to numb them. New research published in this month's Journal of American Dental Association found that painful experiences at the dentist might cause more anxiety for men and women with red hair, who were twice as likely to avoid dental care than people with dark hair. "Redheads are sensitive to pain," said Dr. Daniel Sessler, an Outcomes Research Department chair at The Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio, who is one of the authors. "They require more generalized anesthesia, localized anesthesia. The conventional doses fail. They have bad experiences at the dentist and because of the bad experiences, they could avoid dental care." Sessler, an anesthesiologist, began studying redheads' sensitivity to pain after hearing chatter from colleagues. "The persistent rumor in the anesthesia community was that redheads were difficult to anesthetize," Sessler said. "They didn't go under, had a lot of pain, didn't respond well to anesthesia. Urban legends usually don't start studies, but it was such an intriguing observation."
Huh? I didn't know that. Maybe that's why you rarely see redheaded boxers.:confused:
 

StrictlyAvg

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I have heard of this phenomenon but not seen any empirical evidence to back it up.

But there are plenty of redhead boxers this side of the pond as it happens...
 

Meniscus

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Hmm...I'm not a redhead but I had a horrible root canal experience, and in general I've never coped with pain very well. My dentist sent me to a specialist who was supposedly so good that none of her patients ever had pain. Well, I in spite of the anesthesia and the fact that I was on Vicodin, I was in agony--if I could have screamed I would have. It was 3 hours of torture. Before and after the surgery the Vicodin barely took the edge off the pain, and I had to take it twice as often as I was supposed to.

Now that I think about it, anesthetics wear off on me quickly. When I had my wisdom teeth extracted, I woke up before the procedure was over. And the one time the dentist tried to give me gas, it had no effect on me.

Over-the-counter painkillers don't do much for me, either. They take the edge off, but they do not make the pain go away, even when I take larger and more frequent doses than recommended. But maybe it's the same for everyone.

Maybe it's not just redheads but people with pale, freckled complexions? Scandinavians? Just a thought.

(I will say, however, that every dentist I've been to since has admired my root canal as if it were a work of art, going as far as to call it 'beautiful." I will also say that when the assistant, Micky, realized how much pain I was in, she patted my shoulder gently and just gave me a little sympathy--it was all she could do, really, but I was grateful for it.)