Dentists

I had my six monthly check-up this morning. I was neither nervous nor excited about attending. I don't find dentist appointments frightening like many of my colleagues do. I was rather surprised at the level of terror that dentists induced in people. One of my colleagues had a follow-up appointment with her dentist earlier this week. She had had a white filling inserted by the hygienist and the sensitivity pain she had been suffering from prior to this became worse after the filling. So she popped along to see the dentist on Tuesday morning. By the time she arrived at work she was so white and really quite drawn looking. She said that she had actually been sitting in her car for a time to try to calm down and not look so traumatised.

I cannot even imagine what kind of trauma would give rise to such terror. But she is not alone. My partners mum is equally terrified of dentists and will only visit if it is completely necessary.

I wonder how dentists must feel about having so many of their customers arrive looking absolutely terrified before they have even commenced the treatment/check-up.

I decided to carry out a search on dentists and depression. There is quite a lot of literature out there about dentistry and the higher than average risk of suicide. Stack S (1996) stated that "dentists were 6.64 times more likely than the working age population to die of suicide" yet the article by Alexander RE (Stress-related suicide by dentists and other health care workers. Fact or folklore?) contradicts this statement by suggesting there is not enough statistical evidence to back this statement. Alexander suggests that research that has been carried out on suicidal risk and occupation tends to lump all healthcare professionals together rather than a break-down of doctors, dentists, nurses, etc.

In another article looking at the stress levels in dentistry in Ireland, Rogers and Malone put forward coping strategies for those working in the field. But again they reference health care workers as being at higher risk as a whole.

I can only assume that the attitudes of their patients, work load and from what little I know, the lack of variety that their career holds would contribute that little bit more towards higher stress levels than their other health care colleagues.