BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA—Surprising new research from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health sheds some negative light on one of the most respected professions. It seems that dentists aren’t as honest as once believed.

Dr. Ron Hensel, RDH, MPH of UC Berkeley explains, “we’ve always wondered, but our research seems to confirm it. 4 out of 5 dentists lie about their profession at parties. Apparently there is a certain amount of shame dentists feel when meeting new people about what they do for a living.”

Linda Swanson DDS of Sheboygan, WI was one of the dentists surveyed in the cutting edge project. “Look, I just tell people I work at the Kohler plant. I see enough abscesses and broken teeth at work. I don’t really want to hear about the root canal this woman had while I’m out having some beers. It’s way easier to just say I assemble toilets.”

And she’s not alone. According to Dr. Hensel’s research over 80% of dentists in the United States would prefer to talk about fantasy jobs like sous chef or plumber instead of their actual chosen profession.

Interestingly, the 20% of dentists that are willing to talk about their profession share some characteristics. “It seems that the only dentists that are routinely happy to talk about their profession in social situations are aspiring practice brokers and Invisalign providers,” said Hensel. “Clearly more research is needed in this area, but it’s a struggle to get straight answers out of these people.”