Are You a Victim of Burnout?

Have any/many of you ever felt burned out by this career? What were your symptoms? At what point did you realize you needed to do something about it? And what, if any, changes did you make that helped?
AbreLaBoca, Official Townie

I think burnout is self-imposed. Why? Because burnout means you're doing something you don't enjoy. If it hurts to stick your finger in your eye...quit sticking your finger in your eye! So, what is it that is burning you out? Whatever it is...eliminate it. The great thing about dentistry is that it can be practiced in SO many ways. Do what makes you happy. Don't like dentures? Stop doing them! (I did) Love endo? Take some CE and get REALLY good at it! Want to do full mouth rehabs? Take some Dawson or Spears courses. Decide what would make you happy in your dental practice...then do it.
Mike Barr, Official Townie

You have to get in good spiritual condition to cure burnout. Learn acceptance. Plan don't project. Gratitude is critical. Competing on stupid grounds like economic status is a total killer.
david_f, Official Townie

I have moments where I just want to hurl my handpiece at the wall and bolt. My style of practice (low fee, high volume) is stressful, but I have ways to combat this.

1) I only work 4 days a week. I've only made exceptions to this for rare emergencies for good patients.

2) I always take my holidays. Labor Day, one day for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Memorial Day, one or two weeks for July 4th, one week for Thanksgiving and two weeks around Christmas and New Years.

3) I refer out procedures I find stressful or not enjoyable.

4) Fire those patients who waste your time by either not paying you or failing to keep appointments.

5) Remember family is number one. I'll leave work early for open house at my kids' school, for example.

6) Accentuate the positive. Look around you and realize all the wonderful things dentistry has enabled you to do.

7) Save like mad and invest aggressively in stocks and real estate so you can have the financial freedom to leave dentistry if you wish.
mauty, Official Townie

Yes, I've felt burned out in this career. What symptoms did I recognize? Lack of interest in going to the office. Short patience with staff and patients, no pun intended. An overwhelming desire to drive a Mack truck just so I could deal with LARGE items instead of constantly dealing in mm and micro mm. Some days I get tired of working within a small, wet, sloppy, smelly, moving, environment that resembles a chicken's butt! What to do about it…vacation for starters. Even if you can only take a few days off, it helps. NO CE allowed. Think about what you could be doing if you weren't doing dentistry. That'll fix you up fast.
yaledmd, Official Townie

It's amazing, but no one mentioned what a great stress reliever the message boards at DentalTown can be.
mauty, Official Townie

Apart from all the great clinical tips and debates, I realize that I share the same problems as others here. When you are alone in the office you set up these weird sets of norms for your successes and failures. You really start to believe them. I saw a patient who had gone to an old Doc for years with these crown margins placed on amalgams. There was one with some recurrent decay and I told her it needed a new crown. She ran into her old Doc while visiting her folks and he told her to tell that "young dentist" that the best margins are formed by the corrosion around the old amalgam and to not have those crowns replaced. The moral is we have to get out and talk to other dentists about our successes as well and most importantly, our failures. Both to learn and to get support.
Augustdds, Official Townie

The best way to avoid burnout is to put something out of your head. When I go home at the end of the day, except for follow-up phone calls from the day (a total of about 10 minutes). I don't think about work, my staff, teeth, or gums. I think about my kids and wife. When I am at work I do not think about the leaky toilet at home, or calling the gutter cleaner. I compartmentalize. Also, do not let work suck you in. When it is time to go home, go home! Don't keep adding on "emergencies." Avoid, the best you can, going back to the office. I would say that over the course of a year, I don't make a special trip to the office to see someone any more than 3 or 4 times. I only go in if it is really an emergency. If your desk is overloaded with things to do, then hire someone to take the load off. You are not the only one capable of doing things. How happy can your spouse and kids be if you are at the office in either mind or body? Work burnout is probably a sure fire path to domestic burn up.
proti2, Official Townie

Burn out is something I think we all will face at some point. Staff issues, lab issues or patients with unrealistic expectations. Funny thing is , I think if we could all do it by ourselves we would, and we'd be damn good at it, but we're stuck in the muck and mire. Thank God for the occasional great employee, sober lab tech or nice patient who actually appreciates when you stay late for them.
rforeman, Official Townie