Pain Tolerance

The other morning as I was getting ready for work, I heard a news story that claims that redheads have a higher pain tolerance. According to the story, we are missing the hormone that would make our hair brown. That same hormone in other people makes them feel pain more intensely.

So I was looking for this information on the Internet and found another source that claims that on average, redheads require about 20% more anesthesia than other people to obtain satisfactory sedation. I found claims that support both theories.

From personal experience, I believe that I would fall on the “Give me more!” side of things. I know that I require more anesthesia than the average patient when reclining in the dentist chair. There were many times in the midst of drilling that my dentist would have to stop and shoot me up again. He has finally learned to give the extra dose on the front end of things.

If the theory of redheads having more pain tolerance is true, then Kris can be thankful for her red hair right now. She just had her wisdom teeth pulled and pain is a very Real Force in her life at the moment. She is disputing that theory. She thinks that she is feeling her pain very acutely right now.

I found a message board on which redheads were discussing some of the theories they’ve heard about redheads. It would seem that soft tooth enamel is common, several were born with only three wisdom teeth, and some have heard that they have more acid in their saliva, which contributes to the bad teeth. There are a lot of theories out there…kinda funny.