[Leica] Totally OT question about dentists

[pswango at att.net (Phil Swango)]

Hi, Karen (and others) ? I?m a dentist, I?m retired, and I use Leicas so I 
guess I may as well jump in here.  Folks bring up the Leica/dentist 
connection from time to time -- I?m not sure why.  Personally, I haven?t 
met many Leica-users among my dentist colleagues.

I bought a Leica before dental school, when I was in college and a fan of 
HCB.  I don?t know what might motivate another person to buy one, but 
dentists tend to be perfectionists and this trait is strongly reinforced by 
their training.  Leicas may not be ?perfect? but they do seem be some kind 
of trope for precision and quality, and they?re also expensive, which means 
they show well as tasteful but conspicuous wealth.  Dentists buy Leicas to 
make Thorstein Veblen look like a genius.  We buy Leicas because we don?t 
need another Rolex ;-).

Now for the other question: do dentists really have a high suicide 
rate?  The answer appears to be:  yes, sort of, but not as high as 
physicians, and especially psychiatrists.  You can find some comparative US 
data and discussion 
here: 
<http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010420.html>http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010420.html.
 

Personally, I have only known one dentist who did himself in.

FWIW, I?m not a typical dentist ? I left practice after only 12 years and 
spent the rest of my career in research.  I made the switch because I liked 
the intellectual work of epidemiology better than the physical work of 
dentistry.  Also, I don't hang out much with other dentists -- maybe that's 
why I don't know many who have Leicas.


Phil Swango
307 Aliso Dr. SE
Albuquerque, NM  87108
505-262-4085
714-908-7846 (fax)
pswango@att.net