Red hair and bad teeth?

Did your ancestor have red hair and bad teeth? They may go together according to a blog item posted in The Spittoon, the blog of genetic testing service 23andMe. They quote an article in the Journal of the American Dental Association.

According to the blog:

For several years now scientists have known that the same genetic variations that give redheads their fiery manes can increase the amount of general or local anesthetic a person needs in order to be properly put out or numbed up.

New research suggests that the effect of these variations is strong enough, and hasn’t been addressed by dentists well enough, that the people who carry them are more than twice as likely as those who don’t to avoid going to the dentist altogether.