Word is that Dentists have one of the highest suicide rates of any profession.
Why? People hate them too much ? They feel guilty for doing root canals?
My wife’s dentist drank himself to death so I guess he had some mental issues.
Your phrasing seemed like a folk belief to me, and a quick google search found a Straight Dope column on that very subject.
Word is wrong.
From here: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/science/jobs-rank-low-as-risk-factors-for-suicide.html?sec=health
Cuz life bites, dude.
ETA: Plus, all that nitrous oxide has got to make it a pretty sweet way to go!
LOL
Actually root canals don’t hurt. It’s what happens BEFORE the root canal is done that hurts. I thank GOD for root canals, otherwise most people over 30 would be missing teeth
Root canals used to hurt like hell. This was before dentists learned to let the swelling go down before starting to drill.
There is also a Staff Report by C K Dexter Haven entitled What occupation has the highest suicide rate?. Dex does suggest that dentists are significantly adrift of physicians in the suicide stakes, the latter heading the list of professions so affected. I interpret food batchmaker as an occupation rather than a profession.
It’s worth noting that both Cecil and Dex point out the obvious difficulty in analysing suicide statistics i.e. many such deaths are classed differently in order to spare the families from unwelcome publicity. Cecil also comments on the small samples used to arrive at some conclusions on suicide rates.
Sheesh! It’s because they’re always looking down at the mouth.
*[sub]I read that in a joke book in about 1958[/sub]
I sure hope not. This is the perfect time for me to inject a cute anecdote. Since my 6-year old loved '“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” last year, he’s been saying he wants to be a dentist (like Herbie) when he grows up. We went to the Renaissance Festival in November and he went into a booth with my wife to look at paintings of knights and dragons. The nice lady asked him if he wanted to be a brave knight when he grew up and he proclaimed, “No, I’m going to be a dentist!” Much laughter ensued.
No, it’s because they get tired of the same old drill.
Hey, listen. If, every time you went to Karaoke Night, people would beg you to sing “Fillings, nothing more than fillings…” wouldn’t it push you over the edge?
I must’ve read that same joke book.
Most people? I’m 46 and have all my teeth and have never had a root canal. 
Also now the tools for root canals are much better, they use electric or air drills. In the past they did it more by hand.
Cavities that are filled can lead to root canals after a while, the tooth gets infected. If you have no fillings you probably won’t need a root canal.
That has to be an exaggeration. After all, they can only do it once.
If you had to spend your working day peering into peoples gobs, smelling their bad breath, seeing all the decay and rotting stuff wedged in there, wouldn’t you feel a tad depressed at clocking off time.
Especially if you worked in Merrie England 
So, does your kid shoot puppies with a BB gun, or poison guppies? That would really make him dentist material. 
You’ll be a Dentist.
I’ve had a couple and I would place it on par or slightly less uncomfortable than getting a normal filling.
My root canals were no big deal at all, about the same as a filling, they just took longer. As others have said ,the pain before is the problem. In my recent cases they gave me antibiotics before and that got rid of the pain.