Suicide and depression emerge among North American dentists

Suicide and depression emerge among North American dentists

Two reports in a 5-year period reveal a chronic mood disorder has crept into populations of dentists throughout Canada and the United States that spurs symptoms which include depression and thoughts of suicide.

The Journal of the Canadian Dental Association has identified the disorder as dysthymia, a condition characterized by loss of appetite, low levels of energy, desperation, excessive anger and social withdrawal. Those who suffer also exhibit guilt, suicidal thoughts, difficulty concentrating, and tend to work long hours to compensate for declining performance. Findings published in the journal assert that many Canadian dentists are at risk of suffering from the disorder.

Those findings were preceded in the United States by a 2005 study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association that claims 10 percent of the 560 dentists surveyed suffer from dysthymia. More significantly, the study found that only 15 percent of dentists who indicated they suffered from the condition received treatment for the disorder a physician.

Measures to prevent occurrences of dysthymia have been initiated by the department of dentistry at Canada’s Université de Montréal, Quebec. The Ordre des dentistes du Québec reports it has no data regarding the depression and suicide rates of its 4,360 practitioners, however, according to Gilles Lavigne, dean of the Université de Montréal Faculty of Dentistry, the lack of data does not make the disorder less real.

“When I was a student, we were already sensitized to this particularity of the profession,” Lavigne says. “But it is a problem that affects all health professionals, not just dentists.”

In 1998, the Université de Montréal established a prevention program to help future dentists cope with stress before irritability and exhaustion lead to depression. The program includes information and training on the issue. In addition, the curriculum now includes two psychology classes that focus on the theory and practice of the stress a dentist will face.

Lavigne, who says he has known depressive individuals who have committed suicide, now states that he feels reassured by the prevention program currently in place. “To my knowledge, there hasn’t been a fatal act at the faculty of dentistry in the past 10 years,” Lavigne says. “The program seems to have had the intended preventive effect. And depression is less stigmatized today, contrarily to my generation, youngsters today speak about it more openly. This helps us provide them with better support.”