You do know that veterinarians have one of the highest suicide rates as well? According to one study, 4 times as likely as most people, and twice as likely as other medical professions.
I've also heard numbers cited as low as twice the general population, though I did hear of the 4x numbers (primarily from the uk and aus).
Regardless.. you can't really look at suicide rates and conclude that the job itself must be awful in some ways because the suicide rate is X.
just as you can't conclude that a profession is "better" or more pleasant than another because of differences in suicide rate..
there's things like average debt, average age, income, access to drugs, family situation, close relationships, homosexuality rate, etc., that also matter greatly...
find me a good study that controls for many of these factors while then looking at suicide rates by profession..
Vets have a lower average income so presumably much greater debt than do dentists..
so is being a vet the part that is making ppl commit suicide? or is it being greatly in debt that is making ppl commit suicide..
I have no doubt that the stress of being a vet factors in to the increase in suicide rate.. but
by how much is really hard to say without controlling for MANY other factors
easy access to drugs on site (much 'better' drugs than a dentist would have on hand) also obviously plays a role..
All i'm trying to say is don't use suicide numbers by profession to conclude that it means anything about how pleasant or unpleasant
the profession itself might be