Dentists and suicide rate?

You know, I have heard all my life about dentists being at such risk for commiting suicide, but I also keep hearing that it's a myth. I've just done a few searches for "dentist suicide," "dentist suicide rate," and "dentist suicide statistics," and I'm just not finding anything relevant.

Can someone actually cite a study - even ONE study - or provide me with a link that supports the popular claim that dentists have a high risk of suicide?

Thanks.

Answers:
Having worked in the Dentistry field for 13 years I have never come across anyone that even knows someone that has committed suicide. I think it is a myth.

These are the articles that I was able to find. Sorry I can't give you a link to these as I only have access to them via a UNI link. Perhaps you can access them somewhere yourself.

Alexander RE. Stress-related suicide by dentists and other health care workers. Fact or folklore?. [Journal Article. Meta-Analysis] Journal of the American Dental Association. 132(6):786-94, 2001 Jun

Stein GM. Challenging the myth of the suicide-prone dentist. [Journal Article] Northwest Dentistry. 83(1):35-8, 2004 Jan-Feb.

Arnetz BB. Horte LG. Hedberg A. Malker H. Suicide among Swedish dentists. A ten-year follow-up study. [Journal Article] Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine. 15(4):243-6, 1987.

Bourassa M. Brisebois P. [Suicide in dentists]. [French] [Journal Article] Journal Dentaire du Quebec. 27:113-6, 1990 Mar.

Arnetz B. Horte LG. Hedberg A. Malker H. [Suicide among dentists--results from a cohort study]. [Swedish] [Journal Article] Tandlakartidningen. 78(8):424-7, 1986 Apr.

Lang-Runtz H. Stress in dentistry: it can kill you. [Journal Article] Journal (Canadian Dental Association). 50(7):539-41, 1984 Jul.

Huh? I've never heard of such a thing. Gotta be some myth. In fact, a myth implies something huge. This isn't even a tabloid factoid. Why on earth would dentists want to kill themselves more than other doctors? Makes no sense.
Doctors in general have a higher suicide rate, because of the stress of patients dying.. i would think that would be fairly low in dentists. fewer patients die.. thoug my GF died from an infection she got from a dentist, so its not unheard off (dentist patiens dying)
I haven't heard of such a thing in my life.
is it really true?
it is quite unbelievable.
i would rather say oncologists have a higher suicide rate than any dentist.
What are you a dentist? Why would you even want to think about such thing? Anyway how ever your mind may wonder don't go towards suicide. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks about it just get off it it so ******* stupid. If you ever had anyone in your life that did this you wouldn 't even want to say the word. OK BE HAPPY PLEASE.
I heard that too. My mom is a hygenist and she told me that it has to do with working in such a confined area.
I have heard the same thing over and over again but I never read any study that was significant about it.
I talked about it to one of my patient, a psychiatrist (head of dept. at his hospital) and he said he never heard about it. He considered physicians to be at much higher risk.
I have heard this as well, and could offer several cases of anecdotal evidence.

For a good resource, search the archives of DentalTown.com

If a myth, it is certainly a pervasive one. The stresses of running a dental practice are not insignificant, but there must be professions more given to suicide. Proctologists? Marriage counsellors? Operators of slaughter houses?

I mean.come on! You get spit upon and occasionally bit, but your kids go to private school and your wife drives a Volvo. Too much to deal with?

(Sam, just kidding. I know you drive a 92 Nissan and your kids are home-schooled.)
I found articles, but not many actualy statistics. See below

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010420.html

http://www.suicidereferencelibrary.com/test4~id~1368.php

If you want to do some real research find a good online database of scholarly articles. I know at the college I went to we had this massive journal search engine through the online Library site. I can no longer access it since I have graduated but if possible thats a good place to look. Also if you can obtain suicide rates by profession that might help. I have heard the rumor many times but have never actually seen any statistics.
Dentists' odds of suicide are 6.64 times greater then the rest of the working population.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010420.html
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