I do believe that dentists have a high suicide rate. Why do I believe this? Because they suffer so much from depression. They are, after all, always looking down in the mouth.
MAD Cartoonist Dave Berg (of “The Lighter Side Of . . .” features) did a feature on “The Lighter Side Of Dentists” back in the 1960’s that included a collection of dentist jokes, including a variation on this one.
It was pretty funny back then, too.
… as opposed to the always-enjoyable trips to the proctologist? 
Slight hijack
I have always wondered how someone chooses this specialty.
Do Proctologists get paid 5x the amount of money as someone with a comparable academic requirements?
I can’t see any other possible reason to go in this field. And even if their earnings ARE significantly higher, I’d think I’d personally be just fine limping along through life at “x” income vs. “5x”
/end slight hijack
ETA: i just realized my question doesn’t go well with my user name.
Playboy cartoon from the 60s. At a cocktail party, one couple observing another.
“They were made for each other. He’s a leading proctologist, and she’s a pain in the ass.”
"Say! You’re a really funny guy! That’s the first time I’ve ever heard those jokes…TODAY!!!"
And the dentist’s face when he says “TODAY!” was terrifying.
…Whose business is looking up. And his partner, who loves golfing, tries to get in 18 holes a day.
I do not know how it works in England or the US, but here in France you often don’t have a real choice in the matter.
What happens is that every year the national medical board opens a number of “slots” per medical school/geographical area ; and that’s the total number of people who get to move into second year. So if you’re a med. student, your grades only matter in a strictly competitive ranking system between students. It doesn’t matter if you have a 16/20 grade average : if you’re the 36th student to have a 16/20 grade average and there are only 35 slots open, whelp, better luck next year kiddo. Ties are I believe resolved by random means, but [citation needed].
The slots are further subdivided into GP and specialist slots and the breakdown is calculated based on the country’s demographics both in terms of unmet patient needs and existing doctor base. Some years the board decides there’s gotta be a lot more e.g. brain surgeons, some years the pickings are leaner. It’s pretty much all beyond a med. student’s grasp.
After that,what happens is that, by order of final results, students get to pick their slot among those that are left ; so valedictorians are assured to get their preferred speciality and as you go lower and lower in the finals rankings the options become less and less varied, until the “bottom rungs” get the specialties nobody ever really cared about getting into (which doesn’t mean they’re bad doctors or students - reaching the last open slot already means you’re better than ~95% of available candidates) - your dentists, proctologists or ear-throat docs.
When the choice is between that and GP, most people still pick the “bad” speciality because it’s still more money and status.
Plus I guess at least *some *people must cherish the idea of regularly jamming their fingers up random people’s bunghole. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. 
I dunno.
Seems to be that there’d be a real occupational risk of becoming jaded and cynical about the human race. Every patient you examine would have you going “God, what an asshole.” :smack:
Not that cradling two nuts and getting coughed on is a walk in the park. Either way I’m gonna have enough glove on to look like Audrey Hepburn.
I am now reminded of my old philosophy professor who was married to a dentist. He told us that according to his wife, there was an epidemic of cleaning ladies dying in dentists’ offices. It seemed they’re in there cleaning at night, decide to give themselves a little pick-me-up from the gas but don’t know proper dosages and so overdose. This was decades ago, and I understand there are some better safety features on the equipment these days, so I don’t know if this still holds true.
I’ve noticed in recent years that even the dentists don’t use gas much any more. It’s getting harder and harder to find one who does, and the few who do advertise the fact. A dentist told me that it’s because of the regulations and new tougher certification requirements for dentists to use gas. (This is in California. I assume it’s state regs, not federal?)
My dentist in NJ and all his practice use N[sub]2[/sub]O and O[sub]2[/sub] regularly.
It’s the mercury fumes man
NO2 is addictive and dangerous. It used to be addictive, dangerous, and much better than the other options, but there have been enormous improvements in anesthetics in the last 10,20,40 years.
And an old man I know recalls that his dentist used to look in to the mouth, say “hmmm, I think this needs gas”, then dissappear for a moment…“ah, that’s better…” and proceed with the work.
It’s difficult to find in Massachusetts, too. Lots of sedation dentistry, but IV valium and whatever seems extreme to take the edge off when the problem is dental anxiety and you’re getting a couple of fillings. (Though if I ever have another root canal, I’ll be telling them which vein to use.)
ETA, I think you have to go some to move into the “regular, heavy use of NO2” described in Melbourne’s link.
Forget proctology, who’d want to be a urologist? I mean, basically working with pee all day?
So basically, you can’t go into med school planning on becoming say, an OBGYN, you have to take whatever specialty they assign you? Wow, France sucks.
You’ve heard about the dentist who made a plate out of chrome for a patient who enjoyed dishes made with Hollandaise sauce so that the lemon juice in the sauce wouldn’t corrode it.
Because after all…
There’s no plate like chrome for the Hollandaise. 
Maybe it has something do with the tooth fillings they use?