Administrative burdens, patient care and other challenges can often lead to burnout among dental providers.
Colby Sowers, DMD, spoke with Becker’s to discuss some of the root causes of burnout in dentistry and how dentists can protect their mental wellbeing.
Note: These responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What are some things that contribute to burnout in the industry?
Dr. Colby Sowers: I think when it comes to burnout, you can split it into two different categories, one of which being physical burnout, and the other is more of a mental or emotional burnout. Looking at the physical standpoint of things, even though it might seem like we’re a sedentary profession, it can be pretty taxing on the body every day. I do have many colleagues that have all kinds of pain. Anytime you’re going through chronic pain like that, it does tend to have an impact on your mental wellbeing as well.
Looking at mental burnout, I think one of the biggest things that I see is pressure in the sense that you’re trying to obtain perfect outcomes and achieve perfection when it comes to your patients, and that’s not something that you can always achieve. We go in and give our best every single day, and even though we might be doing everything the right way, we’re not always going to achieve the most perfect outcome, unfortunately, and I think that’s very difficult to reconcile sometimes. I think that can have some contribution to mental burnout.
Q: Do you think there is a stigma around mental health in dentistry?
CS: I wouldn’t say necessarily a stigma, but I think that us being healthcare professionals, people are kind of looking to us to fix other people’s problems, and they don’t always recognize that we’re also people, too. Just being in the office, the dentist is looked upon as a leader as well. We’re the ones who should be fixing everyone’s problems, and I think it just gets overlooked sometimes that we can be going through mental health issues as well.
Q: What strategies or resources have helped you with maintaining a balanced mental wellbeing?
CS: I think just focusing on a good work-life balance. For me, my non-negotiable is exercise. I have to exercise every single day because physically, it makes me feel better, but there’s tons of research that suggests exercising is good for your mental wellbeing as well. So, for me, that’s very important. I think developing a positive mindset going into work every day is really important, too. There are certain people who make positivity look very easy, but I don’t think it’s always like that for everyone. Recently, I’ve been trying to listen to more podcasts and watch YouTube videos, but also relying and leaning on my support system, like my friends, my family and then my other colleagues at work, too.
Q: Are there any changes you would like to see within the dental industry to better support provider mental health?
CS: I think one of the biggest things is fostering the type of mentality that work-life balance is okay to have. A lot of times, doctors come out of school and they’re just kind of thrust into the workforce and expected to work all the time, and I do think that contributes to early burnout and physical and mental stress very early on in one’s career. So, I think just developing that mindset that it’s okay to have a life outside of work is really important.
