Dental work can cause stress and emotional pain — and that’s just for the doctor.
Dentists have higher rates of suicide, depression, drug and alcohol abuse and job burnout than the average American worker, according to several studies over the last several years.
Dentists themselves blame those problems on isolation, frustration and the debts they face right out of dental school.
Dr. David C. Hildebrand, a Dallas dentist and lecturer, said many dentists graduate from dental school with few managerial skills to help them cope with the problems they face in the real world.
“All of a sudden they are 26 or 27, have never hired anybody in their lives and now they are supposed to design an office and hire people and set up the business side,” said Hildebrand. “They are just not equipped for it.”
They also traditionally go into practice by themselves and often soon find themselves in a grueling routine of “drill and fill,” seeing 20 or more patients a day, he said. It’s a much different experience than medical school graduates, who usually join a group practice or go to work in a hospital after finishing their training, he said.
In addition, past studies have shown that some dentists hold their breath while giving a patient a shot in the gums or other painful procedures. Years of this leave some dentists with symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress.
Many young dentists also suffer from a self-esteem problem, Hildebrand and others say. Some resent the public perception that it takes more smarts to get into medical school than dental school.
There are no heroic prime-time TV or movie models for dentists. Instead, they’re often played for laughs — think of Steve Martin in “The Little Shop of Horrors” — or as sadists (Laurence Olivier in “Marathon Man”).
“Try to think of any positive reference to a dentist that you can come up with,” said Christian B. Sager, executive director of the Pankey Institute in Key Biscayne, Fla., which works to improve dentists’ clinical skills and self-esteem.
“How often have you walked into your dentist’s office and said, `Boy, am I glad to be here today.’ It’s really a carryover from the early days of dentistry, when pain was a major component,” he said.
The American Dental Association operates committees that tackle everything from substance abuse to depression. And some dental schools are mixing management seminars with clinical classes.
The Pankey Institute, founded in 1972, offers one-week continuing education programs on the “philosophy of the practice of dentistry.” About 1,200 dentists attend the institute each year; the cost is about $3,200 a week.
The institute recommends that dentists see fewer patients a day but spend more time with each one.
“To find balance in their life, they’re going to have to spend more time with people, maybe cut back on people on their staff, and that is a huge change,” said Hildebrand, who teaches there.
“Many of them don’t do it, but those that do find they make less money but have more balance.
“If you looked at the original five people at the Pankey Institute, all stayed married to their first wife and had employees with them more than 20 years,” Hildebrand said. “But none of them had a huge practice.”
The institute teaches that dentists must maintain a balance of “love, play, work and worship” in their careers.
“What I do is teach an advanced course, but the first day I spend a couple of hours talking about the Pankey philosophy and how to balance your life and create a vision and goals that can help you stay the course,” Hildebrand said.
To keep that balance, he said, it’s essential to keep staff members happy.
Dental hygienists, secretaries and other office workers often shoulder their employer’s stresses or work for a dentist who is burned out. They would like to find a better life balance as well, he said.
But these employees must realize that they can’t make as much working for a practice that generates $400,000 a year as they can at an $800,000-a-year practice. Some are willing to make that sacrifice, Hildebrand said.
“I’ve had multiple employees come to my practice and take a reduction in salary because they are tired of the fast-paced environment,” he said.
Dentists should also give their staff more responsibility and flexibility.
“Most people would rather take time off than take a little more money home,” Hildebrand said.
Slowing down can put the smile, so the speak, back in dentistry.
“You’ve got to find a balance that you are happy with and that creates a peace and contentment in your life,” Hildebrand said.
