Can you read my pokerface? A study on sex differences in dentophobia

Men and women with dentophobia differ in specific fear contents and underlying brain activity during symptom provocation. Possible sex differences concerning other basic emotions, such as disgust, have undergone minimal investigation. Therefore, we recorded the facial electromyogram from the musculus levator labii (as a specific disgust indicator) and the heart rate of 36 individuals with dentophobia (18 women and 18 men with comparable disorder severity) and of 36 non-phobic controls (18 women and 18 men). The participants were asked to look at pictures showing dental treatment scenes, generally fear- and disgust-inducing, as well as pictures with neutral contents. Subsequently they performed an affective picture rating. Independently of sex, phobic subjects relative to controls showed heart-rate acceleration when watching pictures of dental treatment scenes, reflecting a fear reaction. Male and female phobic subjects did not differ in their verbal reports of fear and disgust experienced. However, phobic women showed enhanced disgust-related facial electromyographic activity to dental treatment scenes relative to men. This sex-specific response pattern points to the greater relevance of disgust for the female symptomatology of dentophobia, or it might also be possible that male patients more successfully inhibit disgust reactions during confrontation.