Dentistry is Hard RD
There is a HUGE misconception with respect to dentistry out there. It’s the idea that the general population has that dentistry is an easy profession. We make a “ton” of money, we don’t have to take call and work crazy hours like real doctors, and we just check people’s teeth. I’ll be the first to admit that I was totally clueless about how physically demanding dentistry can be. It takes a toll on your hands, arms, back, and neck. I’m sure I’m not the only dentist who has developed elbow tendonitis, back and neck cramps that caused splitting headaches, and severe weight gain. Okay, the last ailment is on me and my fast food addiction, but the other’s are real. We all have colleagues who have endured back surgery, carpal tunnel surgery, and many other surgeries/therapies to help our bodies heal from practicing dentistry.
What has been even more taxing for me is how difficult dentistry has been on me mentally. I have a daughter who was considering going into the field of physical therapy. In a conversation with her I brought up the idea that she would have to be okay dealing with people who are in pain. Not only are they coming to you while in pain, but you are going to be putting their body through movements and exercises that will cause more pain. Dentistry is very similar. We deal with people who are in pain on a daily basis. Some of what we do causes them pain afterwards. And it’s no secret that people don’t like coming to the dentist. You don’t have to ask, they’re more than happy to tell you. For the past few years I’ve been keeping a record of some of the things patients have done and said to me. I’m going to include a few of those gems here.
“It’s nothing personal, but I hate the dentist.”
“There’s only three things I’m scare of, clowns, midgets, and dentists.”
“I had a bad experience as a child.”
“The last dentist who pulled my tooth stood on my chest to get the tooth out.”
When you greet a patient and ask how they’re doing and they respond, “Good until I came here.”
“I had an appointment with my allergist today. Turns out I’m allergic to almonds, tomatoes, and dentists.”
“I’d rather have another baby than come to the dentist.”
These are all statements that have been said to my face. Don’t get me wrong, these used to be funny to me because they are such ridiculous things to say. But the accumulation of hearing these nonsensical statements over the years has really hardened me. I have always wanted to feel like I was helping people, even if they didn’t appreciate it like I thought they should. That being said, it feels like patients have become more hostile and openly rude over the last few years. Not to blame everything on COVID because I hate that, but I have to wonder if it had something to do with people’s pessimistic outlook and their willingness to tell you about it. The other thing I’ve noticed is that the percentage of people that are behaving this way seems to be increasing. Before it would be maybe 10% of the patients would have a bad attitude and give you grief. It now feels like that number is doubling, if not tripling. Maybe I’m just more sensitive to it, which is entirely possible. Whatever the reason, you can only hear how much people hate you for so long before it starts to affect your mental health.
The reason I bring this up is because I feel there is a direct correlation between how much a dentist works and their overall mental health. The longer you expose yourself to the verbal onslaught of the general public, the greater your decline in mental health. I don’t mean to say that every dentist suffers from this, but I know I do, and I’m not alone for sure. I have close friends who are pediatric dentists who have to deal with extremely unreasonable parents, on top of unruly kids. It’s a huge drain on their mental gas tank, day in and day out. I have friends who are Endodontists that are constantly dealing with people in pain. Even Orthodontists, who seem to live the good life, still have to deal with kids who aren’t compliant and parents who are unrealistic. It’s easy to say, “Hey, we get paid handsomely for what we do and these are the things that we have to put up with to earn our money.” That’s true. It’s also true that some practitioners have narrowed their field of practice to where they are only doing procedures that they enjoy. Other practitioners have the ability to compartmentalize and not let the complaining of the public get to them. I haven’t been able to do that as well as I would like.
I bring this up because it seems that the only way to curtail the affect that this behavior can have mentally, is to limit your exposure to it. So how can I either work less days, or see fewer patients? My stance on this is clear. When you are practicing in a highly competitive environment, you can’t work less. When you have to take home more money because you live in an expensive area, you can’t work less. Not only do you have to possibly work more hours, but you also might have to see more patients per hour than you want to. I’ve worked in those high volume settings where I was seeing 5-6 patients every hour including hygiene and it was very stressful. There was no margin for error. If you ran behind on one patient it would throw a wrench into your entire day, but we had to see that many patients to make up for the lower fees we would accept, including Medicaid.
There is a solution to this problem. See less patients, work less hours, take home less money, live in a place that is more economically friendly to live. Rural America. When you move from an expensive place like Colorado to an inexpensive place like Kentucky you can cut your mortgage payment in half. All things being equal, that’s at least a couple of less days working per month, if you wanted to. There is no doubt that rural communities are less expensive to live in than urban settings, especially when it comes to housing. When you live somewhere that’s cheaper to live and you spend less money, you can afford to work less. When you work in an environment where the demand for dentistry is high and the supply of dentists is low, you find yourself in a favorable situation. You can produce more dentistry, in less time, and still be able take time away from the stress of the office.
Again, dentistry is hard work, and I’m not advocating for taking the easy way out. What I am advocating for is trying to decrease the stress that dentistry puts on us, not only physically, but mentally as well. There are situations where you can work less and make more money, and those opportunities are more easily found in rural settings as opposed to urban settings.