Burnout & Mental Health

Finally started therapy and it's helping

After years of thinking "I should be able to handle this," I finally started seeing a therapist. Best decision I've made. Turns out the constant stress, patient anxiety, and work-life balance issues were actually affecting me more than I realized. Having someone to talk to who gets it (even if they're not a dentist) has been huge. If you're on the fence about therapy, just try it. You don't have to be "broken" to benefit from it.

How do you deal with the physical pain? My back is destroyed

I'm 35 and my back is already shot. Chronic pain, can't sleep, seeing a chiropractor weekly. My hygienist is in worse shape and she's only 28. I know ergonomics matter but when you're running behind and trying to see 20 patients a day, perfect posture goes out the window. What actually helps? Exercises? Equipment? I'm desperate. I can't imagine doing this for 20 more years if I'm already in this much pain.

Thinking about leaving dentistry entirely

I'm 5 years out of school, $300k in debt, and I hate this. I thought it would get better but it's only gotten worse. The stress, the physical pain, the constant pressure to produce. I can't do this for 30 more years. Has anyone successfully transitioned out? What did you do? I feel trapped because of the debt and I don't know what else I could do.

Does anyone else feel like a fraud even after 10 years?

I've been practicing for 10 years. I have good reviews, patients seem happy, but I constantly feel like I don't know what I'm doing. Every case I second-guess myself. Every complication makes me think "I should have known better." I'm terrified someone will figure out I'm not as good as they think I am. Is this imposter syndrome or am I actually bad at this? How do you deal with it?

I dread going to work every single day

I wake up every morning and my first thought is "I don't want to go." I've been practicing for 6 years and it's gotten worse, not better. The patients are demanding, the schedule is packed, I'm constantly behind. I come home exhausted and can't even enjoy my weekends because I'm dreading Monday. Is this normal? Does it get better? I feel like I made a huge mistake choosing this career.