Dentaltown June 2015 - (Page 76)

practice management feature BURNOUT: The Dental Pain No One Mentions by Stuart Krohn, DDS D entistry is a tough profession. Unlike other professions, we dentists wear most of the hats at work. We're responsible for the ﬁnancial health of the business and the hiring and ﬁring of staff. We're the main cheerleader responsible for keeping up morale. Some days we're the maintenance expert, taking care of day-to-day repairs. And of course, we're the main source of revenue. Most other businesses have a staff of people, all of whom are usually responsible for just one of these aspects of the business, and are able to put their entire focus on just that job. We don't have that luxury. In addition, while other businesses will keep generating revenue when the boss isn't present, nothing is produced if we aren't working on patients. It's a great privilege to restore someone's functionality, conﬁdence and sense of self-worth, but the other side of the coin is that we are the ones responsible for a good outcome on a dynamic system that has opinions, feelings and a point of view. If I work on my car, I can enjoy doing similar things that I do on my patients, but without the car saying it's unhappy with 76 JUNE 2015 // dentaltown.com how I treated it, complaining that it waited too long to be seen, talking about whether or not I was gentle enough with it or if the part I replaced was as shiny as it should be. The grind As dentists, we are responsible for great aesthetic outcomes, but we also cause pain to accomplish this. More than half the population doesn't see a dentist regularly because of the pain and discomfort they perceive we inﬂ ict. How many times have you heard patients say they would rather have a baby or go to the gynecologist or have their mother-in-law visit for a week than go to the dentist? How many times have you heard, "Nothing personal Doc, but I hate being here"? We have a heavy responsibility for people's welfare. While we don't make daily life-and-death decisions like our emergency-room colleagues, we do treat people every day who are in pain, show up with infections, or are unable to eat or smile, and the onus is on us to resolve these issues. http://www.dentaltown.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown June 2015

On Dentaltown.com
Howard Speaks: Dentists: Let's Band Together to Improve Public Health
Professional Courtesy: The Appointment is Broken and You Can't Fix It
Continuing Education Update
Poll
Forensic Odontology: Solving Crimes One Tooth at a Time
Routine Equipment Maintenance and Checklist
Minimally Invasive Approach: Implant Prosthetics and Aesthetics of a Lateral Incisor
Electric Toothbrushes: The Benefits of Tech
OFFICE VISIT: The Ninja Dentist Reveals Her Training Ground
The Best 401(k) Plan: Pooled or Participant-Directed?
The State of Little Teeth: Answers About the ACA and Access to Care for Children
How to Successfully Administer Insurance in Your Practice
Continuing Education: Slow-Growing Nodule of the Hard Palat: Differential Diagnosis and Management
Corporate Profile: DentalMarketing.net: Maximizing the ROI of Your Practice
Products in Practice: Ivoclar Vivadent
Disney for Dentists: How Walt’s Principles Can Improve Your Cash Flow
Burnout: The Dental Pain No One Mentions
New Products
Ad Index
Improve Care, Increase Revenue: The Case for Midlevel Providers
How to Calculate Maximum Dosages of Lidocaine and Articaine Anesthetic
Not Your Everyday Oral Pathology Lesion
Overcoming the Entrepreneurial Conundrum
Dentally Incorrect

Dentaltown June 2015