subject: Dentists: suicide [print this page] Dentists: suicide Dentists: suicide
How fun is it to go to the dentist? When "dentist" comes to mind, we think immediately about the sound of drills and the fact that you have to have your mouth open for long periods of time. Hardly, anyone like going to the dentist.
There is little valid evidencethat dentists are more prone to suicide than the general population,although data suggest that female dentists maybe more vulnerable. Surveys shows that dental students generally receive some education on stress management, but many dental hygiene and graduate students do not.
Since 1933, both public and professional media repeatedly have portrayed dentists as being suicide-prone,and both the medical and dental professions constantly are referenced as groups of health care workers who are at high risk of committing suicide. There are allegations that dentists have a disproportionately high incidence of alcoholism, drug abuse and divorce.
Dental practice can be stressful at times, and stress can be a significant contributing factor for suicide. Suicide in the general population is under reported by as much as 33 percent owing to the stigma associated with it,especially in certain cultures.
In the general population, whites commit suicide at a higher rate than do non-whites. As of 1996, the states experiencing the greatest number of suicides per 1,000 populations were: Nevada, Arkansas,Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado. (some articles suggest)
This contemporary statistical origins of the belief that dentists commit suicide at a higher rate than the general population seemed to have occurred in the 1960s; based on articles, that appeared at that time. Over the years, several articles have suggested that dentists, attorneys and physicians have 2.5 to 5.5 times the overall suicide rate of other white-collar workers or matched general population groups.
Various articles suggest that dentists who are members of organized dentistry have a lower suicide rate than do dentists who are not members of organized dentistry; however this can be confusing. The main idea is because working alone can be really stressful, as in working with other colleges with different specialties can feel less demanding.
Dental Management, in 1984, a national dental magazine, surveyed a random sample of 2,500 dentists, with a 40.7 percent responserate. Results showed that 6.7 percent of the responding dentists admitted that they had considered suicide at some time in their careers, while 16.1 percent rated dentistry as "extremely stressful." Some people feel stress when they go to the dentist, and it is only logical to assume that the dentist also feels a great deal of stress as a result.
Being in the dental field, is hard to admit that this myth/fact still has withstand the pass of time. Patients have hated going to the dentist because they fear the pain that dentist may cause them. Time has change, so has technology, and techniques used in medicine and in Odontology. Dentist do not use the same techniques as before: sedation was induce by drinking alcohol, or causing a brain hematoma. Extractions are not done with the same painful clamps that barbers / dentist used in the 19th century. Society has to be less dental phobic and more dental friendly; aware of their procedures, such as if your under go heart surgery. For sure you will try to be as inform as possible because you do not want to died in the operation table, you want to know how "fit" is your doctor. The same has to be when attending a dental office, in order to help you understand that not all dentist "cause pain", therefore appreciate their work.
The relationship with appreciation and dentist suicide, is a factor to why dentist feel "unloved, unwanted", because is not easy having had paid so many years of education, and effort studying at night to realize that patients will do anything, to not go to that appointment every six months.
Find info: JADA 2001
Stress-related suicide by dentists
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