There’s no doubt about it: Dentistry is a demanding industry. Like all care-focused work, dental practice workers go in every day and give it their all. 

This constant output of energy can quickly become draining when your staff becomes so busy taking care of patients that they forget to take care of themselves too. 

Burnout forces dentists to operate at a lesser capacity, which hurts the quality of patient care. Ultimately, burnout hurts everyone involved. Resilience in dentistry not only improves your own health but can increase dental production.

The Basics: What Is Burnout?

Sometimes, simply putting a name to what people are feeling can help. If you’ve been waking up exhausted with a pit in your stomach, you might be experiencing burnout. Burnout results from an extended period of stress without proper rest. If you think back to 2020 and 2021, you might recall the collective burnout many people experienced from the stress and demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just because you’re experiencing burnout doesn’t mean you don’t still love your job. Dentistry is a difficult industry, but one with passionate workers. However, this enthusiasm for work can mean you forget to care for yourself along the way. 

By putting so much energy into your patients, you have nothing left for yourself. This results in compassion fatigue, declining mental health, and physical exhaustion. 

The Symptoms: Are You Experiencing Burnout? 

So, how do you distinguish between “normal” stress and burnout? 

While any amount of stress is unpleasant, burnout happens when that stress reaches an extreme. You may feel stress in a moment or even an entire day — but eventually, recover from it. It’s short-term, whereas burnout is a long-term condition that significantly impacts your physical and mental health. 

Some signs you might be experiencing burnout include: 

• You have a general cynicism about life
• You’re experiencing ongoing exhaustion, regardless of sleep
• You have a disinterest in your professional and personal life
• You’re suffering physical symptoms like headaches and fatigued muscles
• You are struggling to manage your performance at work

The Root Causes of Burnout

Some common sources of burnout include:

• Working in a chaotic or fast-paced environment
• Not having healthy connections or a support system
• Not receiving recognition for hard work
• Not getting enough sleep
• Being a perfectionist

Proving high-quality care at all times is taxing. General dental work is demanding as it is, but if you’re experiencing difficult times in your professional or personal life on top of that, it’s easy to succumb to burnout.

Now that you know the symptoms, you can try to find the source of the issue. Being burnt out isn’t something to be ashamed of. Bodies aren’t made to withstand high-stress levels for an extended period of time without rest. 

Stress puts bodies in fight or flight mode. Being in this mode is exhausting, physically and mentally. Central nervous systems are only meant to handle so much. If you’re in a constant state of stress, you’ll start to feel the effects of burnout. 

The Solution: Building Resilience 

If everything above resonates with you, don’t worry. There are solutions. Working in dentistry means you must build resilience to avoid burnout. 

Mental health awareness is at the heart of resilience in dentistry. As healthcare workers, it may be in your nature to take care of others over yourself — but this isn’t a sustainable practice. 

Resilience is about taking care of yourself first. You have to be your best self to perform your best. Remember that you deserve rest and care just as much as your patients do.

If you’ve never truly practiced self-care, you might wonder what it looks like. Firstly, you need to make time for yourself. Self-care is a time commitment, just like everything else. This often requires you to set and keep boundaries with patients and coworkers. 

When you’ve freed up that time block, it’s up to you to decide what your body and mind need. If you’re looking for suggestions, some common self-care techniques include: 

• Meditating and practicing mindfulness
• Meeting your basic needs well by sleeping, eating, hydrating
• Exercising regularly
• Seeking professional help

Foster a Healthy Environment at Your Dental Practice

A healthy work environment is essential for building resilience in dentistry. Burnout can cause conflict on dental teams and poor-quality work. Help your team build resilience by setting the foundation for it.

If you want to find more ways to jumpstart resilience in your dental practice, schedule a demo with Dental Intelligence today to learn about digital tools that can improve communication and streamline day-to-day operations.