Why is dentistry so stressful

During the early part of his or her career, the typical dentist is paying off huge loans to cover the cost of dental school and the cost of setting up a private practice. Once in practice, the dentist soon learns that office overhead rises to meet income. It often then surpasses it. Economic pressure forces many dentists to work through their lunch — an hour that is the single most important period of the work day.

Instead of using the time to get proper nourishment and much needed rest, he or she will often accommodate an additional patient or two. This inevitably leaves the dentist tired and exhausted by the end of the day.

Another result of the economic pressure of practice is that dentists often feel that they literally cannot afford to be sick or take holidays. When a dentist is absent from the office, the income totally stops, but the high overhead expenses continue to grow relentlessly. And when dentists burnout, they become emotionally and mentally exhausted, develop a negative, indifferent or cynical attitude towards both their patients and their staff, and evaluate themselves negatively.

Attempting to stay on schedule in a busy dental practice is a chronic source of stress. And as we all know, once we are behind schedule there is no way to catch up. The result is that the dentist is continually forced to compromise treatment and is frustrated in not being able to reach his or her ideal treatment goals. The dentist then ends up emotionally carrying the responsibility for less than ideal results while the patient continues to express unrealistic expectations.

The psychological stress of working with apprehensive and fearful patients can be devastating to the dental practitioner. There is now considerable evidence that dentists experience patterns of physiological stress responses increased heart rate, high blood pressure, sweating, etc.

This in turn can lead to an early heart attack for the dentist. Researchers are finding that many personality traits that characterize a good dentist are also traits that predispose to depression in mid-life, drug and alcohol abuse and the attendant risk of suicide. Among such traits are:. The Pankey Institute in Miami evaluated the health of 2, dentists.

Also, dentists do not exercise enough to prevent progressive deterioration of connective tissue, small blood vessels, muscles and circulation in general. Stress can never be totally eliminated from dental practice. However, it must be minimized as much as possible in order to avoid the many stress-related physical and emotional problems that it causes. The key to managing stress successfully is to first recognize and understand its causes. Once the causes have been identified and understood, preventive steps can be taken.

Some of the preventive measures that could minimize the stress of dental practice are as follows:. Courses on managing stress should be made available to all dentists and should also be included in the dental curriculum at our dental schools.

Stress-related suicide by dentists and other health care workers: fact or folklore? JADA ; Washington: American Psychiatric Press; Stress in dental practice. Dent Update ; 18 2 Stress situations in dental practice. J Can Dent Assn ; Stress and the dental team: a qualitative investigation of the causes of stress in general dental practice.

Dent Update ; Mortality of dentists, to Job satisfaction, mental health, and job stressors among general dental practitioners in the UK. Br Dent J ; Stress and self-destructive behaviors of dentists. Identification of sources of stress in practice by recent dental graduates. J Dent Educ ; Community Dent Oral Epidemiol ; The changing patterns of drinking, illicit drug use, stress, anxiety and deptression in dental students in UK dental school: a longitudinal study.

BR Dent J ; It hurts the dentist too. Job Safety and Health, , Dental Currents, Vol 8, Issue 2, Jan. Stress in health professionals: Psychological and oranisational causes and interviews. New York: Wiley; Dentists grow richer but feel the pressure: suicide rate is high. Wll Street Journal, Dec. Stress and suicide among dentists two-part series. Perceived sources of occupational stress in general dental practitioners. Lang is an orthodontic lecturer at the University of Toronto and past president of the Ontario Association of Orthodontists.

He maintains an orthodontic practice in Mississauga and Etobicoke, ON. Super political-correct article. But informative also. I will go the rest of my life with bad teeth. I wonder if that also bothers dentists. Something should be done. It amazes me that after reading this, you still feel no empathy towards the dental care providers. You completely missed the point of the article. Why is it that some patients feel so entitled for free dental work.

Understand that dentists work extremely hard, spend ridiculous amount of money and energy to be able to provide the best possible care for their patient. The ADA discovered that of dentists: Other studies found similar responses: 34 percent frequently or always felt physically or emotionally exhausted 6 and 47 percent were somewhat happy to unhappy with little interest in life.

Another study using the well-established Maslach Burnout Inventory reports 13 percent had high overall levels and another 21 percent had certain risk of burnout. Of the research studies reviewed, 12 percent of dentists thought about suicide with 18 considering it within the last year. Headaches, migraines and intestinal problems were also common diagnosed medical conditions dentists reported as a result of their stress.

Question: What keeps dentists from addressing their stress? There are two relevant barriers keeping dentists from managing their stress. Lack of Knowledge When asked about resources available to them to reduce stress, a high proportion of dentists felt their network of services was limited. Self-regard Several studies asked respondents questions of self-regard to measure the role the dentist's mindset plays in perpetuating stress.

On a scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree, one study measured, "It would be difficult for me to seek help because I think I should be able to solve my own problems. Time Management Training Learning the skills necessary to have effective time management is crucial to reducing stress in the practice.

Time management training includes learning and mastering the art of delegation, prioritization, decision making and assertiveness. It does not necessarily require a change in processes or systems, staff or business model to yield improvement of perceived stress. Sleep More The correlation between the amount of sleep each dentist reported and perceived level of stress is significant enough to note. Ensuring you get at least seven hours of restful, uninterrupted sleep each night might not eliminate the stressors you experience during the day but it does prepare your body and give you the mental energy necessary to navigate through them successfully.

Move More To see an impact of stress levels you don't need to exercise for hours and hours. There are significant benefits to health with increased movement as opposed to structured exercise. Parking farther away in parking lots, taking the dog for a walk, using stairs when possible and walking the halls of your practice more often are easy ways to increase movement and impact your stress levels.

Drink Less Studies concluded that the use of alcohol as a coping method for stress among dentists is on the rise. Drinking less makes room for you to choose adaptive coping methods to reduce stress in a way that is healthy and permanent.

Seek Help There are numerous tools and resources available to you in the form of books, websites, organizations and professionals that can guide you in reducing your stress.

Depending on your unique needs, style of learning, preference of communication, and commitment, you can permanently reduce your stress. It takes action, often courage, and sometimes just one phone call to start the process. The only barrier you have is your willingness to take care of yourself. References American Dental Association. Chicago, Kay E, Lowe J. A survey of stress levels, self-perceived health and health-related behaviors of UK dental practitioners.

Br Dent J ;E Stress Management for the Dental Team. How to reduce the stress of general dental practice: The need for research into the effectiveness of multifaceted interventions. Br Dent J ; Job stressors of New Zealand dentists and their coping strategies.

Occupational Medicine Rada R, Leong C. Stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among dentists. JADA ; Edlin R. Avoiding the ill effects of stress. The suicide mortality of working physicians and dentists. Occupational Medicine ; British Cohort. Alexander R. One such study looked at data from primary healthcare workers, including dentists, with the goal of evaluating the relationships between stressful work conditions and poor quality of life.

Generally, workers who reported their jobs required high effort but resulted in low personal reward self-reported a low quality of life. Interestingly, healthcare workers who reported high work effort and high personal reward also said their quality of life was lower, indicating that over-commitment to work had a significant negative impact on them. We all experience stress.

Some stressors can be seen as a type of good stress eustress. Conversely, when we experience negative stress destress , a whole host of physical and emotional consequences can occur.

For example, mounting negative stress causes a buildup of epinephrine in the body. If epinephrine occurs in high enough qualities for long enough time periods, it causes fat breakdown , which moves fat from the body into the bloodstream where it builds up over time and forms deposits in blood vessels.

From there, these deposits might break off of the vessel wall, causing heart attack or stroke. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways dentists can manage their stress levels. Some stress management techniques are broader and are easy to apply in your everyday life. They help build the foundation for a healthier mental state.

Eating well-balanced, nutritionally dense meals provides your body with all the energy you need to function at your best. Getting enough sleep helps your mind to reset and refresh itself. Exercise, including practices like yoga , helps to keep your body at its peak performance level, in addition to providing mental and emotional benefits.