Is Dentistry Stressful For You?

– By Dr Nav Ropra.

It is often commented that Dentistry has one of the highest suicide rates of any profession. The stress is increased for health care professionals as they continually have the demands and needs of patients to consider in addition to their own needs.  This is a concern as the causes and management of stress is something we are not taught at University.

Stress is something we believe is commonplace in dentistry – Wrong!

It’s the by product of having unclear goals and not being able to adapt to ones environment. This can lead to living a life of desperation rather than one of inspiration. One of ingratitude rather than gratitude.

‘It is often commented that Dentistry has one of the highest suicide rates of any profession.’

From the micro to the macro, the only thing in life that is constant is change. If you are unable to adapt to the changing environment, then you will be stressed.  Your identity will be challenged and your values may be shifted.  For example, the inability to adapt to patients, staff, the economy, new regulations etc can all lead to feelings of being overwhelmed and not being in control of your practice or your destiny.

‘It’s the by product of having unclear goals and not being able to adapt to ones environment.’

Although we may aspire to providing excellent dentistry and care for our patients, our unique set of values can cause us to sacrifice one or more of the 7 areas of life (Spiritual, Mental, Vocational, Financial, Familial, Social, and Physical) only to excel in other(s).  This can lead to an imbalance and this imbalance will be perceived as stress.

Any imbalance will always attract its opposite as nature is geared towards balance.  The difference in where you are and where you would like to be can be the fuel for stress itself.  Having the wisdom to put things into perspective and increasing your time horizons, will help in reducing the dissatisfaction and unrealistic expectation(s) that you may have on something or someone. This will help you to adapt and reduce the stresses that you may be experiencing.

The Perceived Highs and Lows of Dentistry:

Trying to always have a high day at work is an unachievable utopia and we can end up psychologically ‘beating ourselves up’ when we cannot live up to the unrealistic expectations that we sometime place on ourselves or others.  We can carelessly get attached with the perceived highs when we have a high day, only to come emotionally crashing down by attracting some event into our lives which humbles us to bring us back into equilibrium.

Conversely, if you are having a low day, and associate with the negative you end up wallowing in self pity you distract yourself from purpose that way too.

Both perceived excesses and deficiencies can lead to stress and when you’re not centred and equilibrated, you attract psychological, physiological or social feedback as correcting mechanism to help bring you back to centre.  Extremes are opportunities for us to reflect on our lives and grow to the next level of awareness and to bring us back to the centre.