Self-care in dentistry is not a luxury, but a vital measure to ensure the well-being of specialists and improve the quality of patient care.
It’s all too easy to romanticize burnout or constant workload as if it’s something admirable. But burnout is a scary reality, and there’s nothing delightful about it. It leaves doctors exhausted—mentally and physically, lazy, apathetic, uninspired, and depressed.
It is crucial for healthcare professionals to learn to appreciate the ability to find a healthy work-life balance that will energize us. We must learn to set boundaries that protect our emotional and mental health and ensure long-term well-being.
It is necessary to extol the priority of rest, recovery and health care. Doctors must remember that while it’s great to be passionate about your profession, we’re human beings first, and employees second.
Professional burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that occurs as a result of prolonged or excessive stress at work. It manifests itself in a feeling of emptiness, detachment from work and a decrease in efficiency. Although it is not a medical diagnosis, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon.
In this context, self-care is an action aimed at restoring and strengthening the physical, mental and emotional state. Developing these habits, whether at work or in your personal life, can help you manage the symptoms that lead to anxiety and depression.
By embedding self-care into everyday life, we become more successful not only in our profession, but also in relationships, health, and overall quality of life.
Dentistry is a physically and emotionally demanding profession. Long hours of work, high concentration, physical exertion and the pursuit of perfection in their work sooner or later affect the condition of the doctor. Over time, this leads to an accumulation of stress and, if self-care is ignored, to serious mental and physical consequences.
A study published in the FacultyofDentistry Journal in October 2021 found that burnout is so common among dentists that more than 84% of doctors and 26% of assistants experience it at least once a year. This applies to everyone – regardless of gender, age or experience. No one is immune.
Studies confirm that the well-being of the doctor is directly related to the quality of clinical decisions, communication with patients and the final results of treatment.
A decrease in professional efficiency is a key sign of burnout. In dentistry, this can mean a deterioration in the quality of work, loss of confidence, irritability towards patients, physical ailments, and so on.
Stress is the body’s natural response to difficulties and challenges, a survival mechanism. It triggers an instinctive fight-or-flight response, accompanied by a rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, and a surge of energy. In moderation and under the right conditions, stress can play a positive role in helping to mobilize and cope with tasks.
But with chronic or excessive stress, the body does not have time to recover. Burnout is a severe form of chronic stress accompanied by the release of cortisol, a hormone that plays an important role in regulating sleep, digestion, and the immune system.
Every dentist has faced stress, often due to their own mistakes, such as not respecting personal and work boundaries or inflated expectations of themselves.
Think about it: how often do we create an excessive load for ourselves? For example, let’s say you worked all day from nine to five, while:
And here you are late at work, exhausted, you have neither the energy nor the time for the gym, because you need to go home to your family. Familiar?
Patients are happy, work is in full swing, maybe you will even become the “employee of the month”. But at what cost? You feel exhausted, de-energized, vulnerable.
We all know that it is easier to prevent a disease than to cure it. Modern realities make stress almost inevitable — because of patients, social networks, work tasks, family, and comparison with colleagues. We have two choices: either minimize stress, or learn to “digest” it and release it.
Due to the stigmatization of mental health topics, many feel ashamed of time for themselves, feel guilty when they don’t work, or don’t feel “productive.” But taking care of yourself is not pampering, but professional responsibility.
Just as we teach patients to maintain personal hygiene to prevent oral diseases, we ourselves must maintain mental, emotional and physical health in order not to burn out and maintain a high quality of work.
Sleep, boundaries, self-care – all this directly affects the quality of treatment. The patient will benefit much more from a rested, balanced and energetic doctor than from someone who works on the fourth coffee until 10 pm.
We have a unique ability to influence our hormones and thereby our well-being. Our brain chemical processes respond instantly to behavior.
Dopamine is a hormone of motivation. Taking a walk in the morning for at least 10 minutes before work helps to manage stress and increase efficiency.
A useful life hack is not to look at your phone for the first 15 minutes after waking up and take a cool shower for at least one minute.
Oxytocin is a hormone of trust and intimacy. Its content in the blood is increased by a warm bath after work, high-quality communication with loved ones. This improves contact with patients and increases the level of trust.
Serotonin is a hormone of mood and energy. 90% of it is produced in the intestines, so nutrition, sleep and physical activity are key factors in mental health. A healthy lunch can have a bigger impact on your productivity than you think.
Endorphins are hormones of joy. They lower cortisol. Physical activity, stretching, sports – all this helps to remove stress from the body and prepare for a new day.
One of the best things we can give a patient is to be in the best shape. Self-care is the foundation with which we interact with the world around us.
A calm mind is the key to well-thought-out decisions. A doctor who takes care of himself is more attentive, empathetic and accurate in diagnoses. It builds trust, communicates better and achieves better clinical results.
In the end, the patient receives not only good treatment, but also valuable human contact.
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