Do you find being a dentist stressful?

[JakeSill]

I have a couple questions about the dental profession.
1. Do you find being a dentist stressful?
2. Do you like it?
3. Knowing what you know now, would you have pursued another career?

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[DaleDoback]

I have a couple questions about the dental profession.
1. Do you find being a dentist stressful?
2. Do you like it?
3. Knowing what you know now, would you have pursued another career?

1. No. You have to look at the bigger picture. You realize there are people who do surgeries on the pediatric heart right?
2. No. I can never decide which car I want to drive today.
3. Yes. I should have hit the lottery at 18 instead of 32.

 

[tc434]

Dentistry can be stressful. Running a practice is very stressful at times. Dealing with employees, insurance, unhappy patients that do not want to pay their bills, etc. That being said, it can be very rewarding. It sounds cliche but it is a wonderful feeling to help people. Whether it is getting them out of pain, helping their appearance and health, or providing a good experience with a fearful patient is very rewarding.
I love being a dentist. I have been practicing for just over 5 years. I had a previous career in the airline industry and find being a dentist is much more rewarding. The schedule is as flexible as you want to make it (provided you are in private practice).
Knowing what I know now, it would have been nice to have pursued dentistry sooner. I also would have specialized right after dental school as opposed to waiting a few years. Less debt, more freedom, etc. But that is my path and I wouldn't change any of it. The stress is worth it. Good luck

 

[Wax n Relax]

Dentistry can be stressful. Running a practice is very stressful at times. Dealing with employees, insurance, unhappy patients that do not want to pay their bills, etc. That being said, it can be very rewarding. It sounds cliche but it is a wonderful feeling to help people. Whether it is getting them out of pain, helping their appearance and health, or providing a good experience with a fearful patient is very rewarding.
I love being a dentist. I have been practicing for just over 5 years. I had a previous career in the airline industry and find being a dentist is much more rewarding. The schedule is as flexible as you want to make it (provided you are in private practice).
Knowing what I know now, it would have been nice to have pursued dentistry sooner. I also would have specialized right after dental school as opposed to waiting a few years. Less debt, more freedom, etc. But that is my path and I wouldn't change any of it. The stress is worth it. Good luck

Did you happen to work for Continental Express Airlines?

 

[tc434]

No but I may know who you are thinking of. He is now a pediatric dentist

 

[distressstudent]

Being a dentist can be stressful. You have to deal with paperwork, managing practice, managing staff, etc. But depending on what you want, there are ways to get around many of the stresses. The implication of owning your own practice and managing staff can be stressful, but autonomy is one privilege that dentists have. You can always exchange that privelege to work under someone; the choice is yours.

Each job comes with its own set of stress, obviously. However, personally speaking I would say that dentists is one of the least stressful career out there relatively to everything else. For me personally, I think dentistry offers the best balance of rewards and stress for me.

 

[JakeSill]

Dentistry can be stressful. Running a practice is very stressful at times. Dealing with employees, insurance, unhappy patients that do not want to pay their bills, etc.

Being a dentist can be stressful. You have to deal with paperwork, managing practice, managing staff, etc.

Ok apart from all this are the dental procedures, eg root canals, implants, surgeries, stressful or difficult?

 

[caliprosth]

In my opinion the dentistry is the easier part. Office and business side can be more stressful. After time, the dental procedures get easier.
It can be kinda stressful having patients dread coming to the dentist everyday, but some do look forward to it and the appreciative ones are rewarding.
No matter what it is always best to establish good rapport with patients and portray a likable image. This can be difficult when having a bad day, but worked on in time.

 

[tc434]

Like any job, as you get more experience the easier it becomes. There may be certain procedures that you find very stressful and after struggling through a number of those types of cases you choose to refer to a specialist. I love extracting teeth, both simple and surgical, but I find impacted wisdom teeth not enjoyable at all. They can be very hard and are always referred to the surgeon. I really enjoy root canals but there are plenty of cases I refer to the endodontist. It allows me to enjoy doing the procedures I like. Fillings, crowns, etc can become very routine. An otherwise straightforward case can be very stressful with a difficult patient (lots of anxiety, can't open wide, etc). On the other hand, a challenging case that turns out well is very rewarding. Dental school can be tough when you are learning things for the first time. After 6 months to a year of practicing your efficiency improves greatly and things start to become routine. I think it is important to continue to push myself and keep learning. Certain procedures you will love and do more of and some you will learn to quickly refer to a specialist. I have found that after a few years of practice there are some procedures I enjoy so much I am going to go back to school to specialize. Hope this helps

 

[mace100]

Dentistry is very stressful, you're doing microsurgeries on awake patients that don't want to be there, trying to keep an inherently wet environment dry for your materials to work. Oh and you have to do this all very quickly. Dentistry can be rewarding when you help a patient, but there are many careers that can be rewarding. When you're young and healthy it's workable but leaning over a patient for hours at a time will wreck your back and neck as the years go by. You're a well paid physical laborer, not an ideal situation when you get over fifty in age. DO, md to Psychiatry is a better route with lower physical stress and high demand, good compensation and easy to get into.

 

[caliprosth]

I would agree with the above in that dentistry is very physically demanding. I have to watch myself and make sure I'm practicing proper ergonomics every time I'm working. Your hands cramp up, back pain and neck pain can become chronic. It is important to take care of yourself in this profession both mentally and physically.

 

[pjscholar]

Its easy guys. Trust me I'm a 4th year student.

 

[yappy]

Dentistry is very stressful, you're doing microsurgeries on awake patients that don't want to be there, trying to keep an inherently wet environment dry for your materials to work. Oh and you have to do this all very quickly. Dentistry can be rewarding when you help a patient, but there are many careers that can be rewarding. When you're young and healthy it's workable but leaning over a patient for hours at a time will wreck your back and neck as the years go by. You're a well paid physical laborer, not an ideal situation when you get over fifty in age. DO, md to Psychiatry is a better route with lower physical stress and high demand, good compensation and easy to get into.

double post

 

[yappy]

Dentistry is very stressful, you're doing microsurgeries on awake patients that don't want to be there, trying to keep an inherently wet environment dry for your materials to work. Oh and you have to do this all very quickly. Dentistry can be rewarding when you help a patient, but there are many careers that can be rewarding. When you're young and healthy it's workable but leaning over a patient for hours at a time will wreck your back and neck as the years go by. You're a well paid physical laborer, not an ideal situation when you get over fifty in age. DO, md to Psychiatry is a better route with lower physical stress and high demand, good compensation and easy to get into.

It's not that bad. Using indirect vision, loupes (3.0x or higher + light), isolation/suction, and proper body mechanics is as important to dentistry as the procedures themselves. It took me a few months to figure that out and now it's no different than sitting at a desk.

Also, I'm not really buying the physical laborer analogy; it strikes me as hyperbole. As a dentist it's your professional responsibility to diagnose and treat disease like the other professions you've listed. DO/MD are in many surgical fields, some of which actually do "microsurgery", and they've overcome the same challanges by using ergonomics, microscopy, and clean living to have long careers.

 

[phungy]

I have a couple questions about the dental profession.
1. Do you find being a dentist stressful?
2. Do you like it?
3. Knowing what you know now, would you have pursued another career?

1. Oh yeah, everyday. It's stressful on the body, I'm sitting most of the day as I work in a high volume practice. At the end of the day my traps and back are tense and tight.
2. I do like it, I also hate it. It varies for every office. The staff tends to get lazy, they waste supplies. I like how I can live a low key life however I dislike how I have to fix the previous dentist's work for free cause insurance won't cover for it in a 2-5 year time frame (fillings, dentures, crowns)
3. I'm torn, I do love the hours (10-6) and the autonomy however if you're pursuing dentistry for the money, you're going into the wrong profession.

 

[pjscholar]

1. Oh yeah, everyday. It's stressful on the body, I'm sitting most of the day as I work in a high volume practice. At the end of the day my traps and back are tense and tight.
2. I do like it, I also hate it. It varies for every office. The staff tends to get lazy, they waste supplies. I like how I can live a low key life however I dislike how I have to fix the previous dentist's work for free cause insurance won't cover for it in a 2-5 year time frame (fillings, dentures, crowns)
3. I'm torn, I do love the hours (10-6) and the autonomy however if you're pursuing dentistry for the money, you're going into the wrong profession.

I bet most professionals who hear of a career working 4 days a week making around 200k would say the money is pretty good! There is a great financial incentive to pursue dentistry, and I would argue that the dental field has the highest paid professionals PER HOUR in the workforce. For specialists, they can often work 4 days and make 300-500k regularly. That is pretty unheard of in terms of average salary. Most high paying professions who are in this range require 60-80 hr work weeks (physicians, attorneys, executives, etc). So, in my opinion-the advice of "don't do it for the money" should be modified to "don't do it ONLY because of the money"--meaning you should enjoy dentistry and other aspects of the profession but money should be a factor in your decision in my humble opinion. At least, if you are going to invest 200-500k for an education, money should definitely be a factor that you are considering in your decision! Its not ALL about the money, but lets be honest--very few people would put all the time, work, and money into pursuing dentistry if there was not a great financial incentive.