Please, won’t someone think of the dentists?
Posted February 20th, 2010 by Murray By Moonlight
Filed under: False, Urban Legends
Is there any truth to the common belief that dentists commit suicide at a higher rate than any other profession?
When you think about dangerous jobs, you probably think of someone who defuses bombs, or astronauts, or perhaps even accountants [1].
You might not, however, immediately think of dentists.
And yet, according to a popular piece of ‘common knowledge’, dentists apparently suffer a suicide rate several times higher than any other profession, making dentistry one of the most dangerous professions out there, and not just because you spend all day with your hands in the mouths of people with questionable oral hygiene.
But is there any truth to it?
To get to the root of this particular urban legend, I turned to the wonderful pages of Cecil Adam’s Straight Dope column.
Cecil looked at this legend back in 2001, and his research indicated that dentists actually are likely to commit suicide at a rate slightly higher than the general population, however medical doctors reportedly had a higher suicide rate than dentists. Neither profession, however, was several times higher than the general suicide rate.
In all fairness, it’s difficult to be 100% accurate about comparative suicide rates. There is no central reporting and statistical analysis body responsible for maintaining these statistics, and not every person who sadly takes his or her own life will have his or her profession reported. But at least we can say that of the stats available, there isn’t some bizarre upward jump in suicide rates among dentists.
Interestingly enough, I’ve personally heard this same claim made about Air Traffic Controllers and Teachers, and the simple fact that there are multiple versions of this story floating around should give us enough reason to be at least cautious about its credibility.
Linkage: The Straight Dope – Do dentists have the highest suicide rate?
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Have you heard this story? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Footnotes:
| 1. | Obviously I’m not being completely serious here. After all, what’s dangerous about being an astronaut? |
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