Sir, the debate about the apparently high suicide rate of dentists is nothing new and just as inaccurate now as it has always been. Public perception, for as long as I can recall, is that dentists have the highest suicide rate of all professions but this is not so and never has been the case.

In the early 1990s the BDJ acknowledged the need for a book compiling an index of risks and hazards to the dental team and in its own words to list 'an indication of when to flap or not'. Subsequently a book was published by BDJ Books: Occupational hazards to dental staff, which included a review of causes of early death.

I was asked to review this book in 1993 for a professional dental journal, and clearly recall that we fare much better than other health professionals including doctors, opticians and pharmacists, all of whom have (or had?) a higher incidence of suicide, heart disease and cirrhosis than the dental team. My only concern was that even then, these statistics were compiled in 1972.

However, perhaps we should be more gratified to learn that the life expectancy of a dentist is actually marginally better than an MP!

1. Bristol