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3 dentists' strategies to tackle stress, burnout

Knowing how to cope with stress and burnout can be helpful to dental professionals dealing with the everyday challenges the industry can bring.

Here, three dentists shared with Becker's how they manage stress and burnout:

Note: Responses were lightly edited.

David Caggiano, DMD. Caggiano Orthodontics (Parsippany, N.J.): First, try and avoid being stressed by identifying any triggers and seeing the best way to deal with them. Is it something you can delegate? Review with other team members on something that has stressed you so that it doesn't happen again.

But the everyday bump-and-grind stress? Eating right, exercising and tackling harder tasks first thing in the morning, before my daily routine takes me in a different direction, [works for me]. I often review at night bigger tasks that are needed to be accomplished the next day. I then wake up early and tackle the task at hand, prior to getting distracted with the daily tasks.

Rick Singel, DDS (Cincinnati): I am generally not stressed and certainly not burned out. I’ve been practicing for 40 years and have no urge to stop. I work at a relaxed pace. I don’t see my patients as dollar signs. I don’t spend my days concentrating on generating revenue. I spend my days taking care of people. I have a wonderful small staff that shares my philosophy. The only time I get stressed is when a procedure does not go as planned.

James Woods, DMD. Bluegrass Orthodontics (Paducah, Ky.): I manage stress and burnout by avoiding both! I have 'right-sized' my practice from the beginning in order to have a stress- free schedule, yet produce income at a level I desire.

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