Depression!?

[Ali527]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

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[oralcare123]

Get counseling. Find another job
What you do, your standards depend only on you - just say no

 

[MG14]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

Where did you land? Corporate? Ownership? Government?

 

[Advance]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

Definitely get professional help. If your financial situation allows it I would recommend working less days per week.

 

[TanMan]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

That's the unfortunate reality. If you need help, seek help. See what they say. They will either console you into accepting your situation or move to a less stress job. Also, consider a government, public health, or academic job, if money/production assembly line is something that causes your depression. I'm not a mental health professional, so seek a mental health diagnosis first.

 

[UncleJoesVeneers]

Also, consider a government, public health, or academic job

Disagree strongly. FQHC dentistry is far more likely to burn someone out than working in the private sector. Public health is just non-profit corporate dentistry 40 hours per week. Quality of life is far better as an associate in the private sector. OP just needs to find the right job or work schedule.

 

[Lemillion]

Yes I would say seek professional help and also take some time to get back to a good spot mental/emotionally/etc; even if that means working less days. Dentistry is stressful and unfortunately it can become more business focused than patient care (production, speed, growth, opening offices, etc.) All important things but can become burdensome especially for a new doc.

If you find yourself overwhelmed clinically and struggling then I would encourage doing a GPR/AEGD to develop further. I had a friend that approached it that way and it helped him a lot.

If you find yourself more frustrated in general with the industry then transitioning to an academic setting may be an option. You would take a pay cut but there are teacher-loan repayment programs and it would be easier on your body too.

Hope you find yourself back to a good state of well being sooner than later

 

[yappy]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

Please be more specific so we can offer you better advice. Describe by what method you're paid (production/collection or daily rate), what procedures are you doing, how do you feel about the office culture and your coworkers, and how many patients do you see per day? What exactly are your misgivings about this job. How do you rate your clinical skills?

 

[TanMan]

Disagree strongly. FQHC dentistry is far more likely to burn someone out than working in the private sector. Public health is just non-profit corporate dentistry 40 hours per week. Quality of life is far better as an associate in the private sector. OP just needs to find the right job or work schedule.

Talking to my colleagues in FQHC dentistry, they have it much easier than me in terms of patient load. If only they paid as much as I earn, I would strongly consider it.

 

[2TH MVR]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

Sounds like the stress/depression is a direct result of your current employment/lack of experience and not an internal issue with yourself. Try to remember that we have all gone through this. My 1st 6 months out as an associate sucked and consequently failed. As I gained experience. Owned my private practice .... the procedures got easier and my life instantly became better.

My advice. If you are relating dentistry as a factory, assembly line situation .... then you may need to set your sights on owning a small, traditional dental practice in a rural/semi-rural area. Small means 1 front desk, 1 hygeinist, and 1 asst. Work out of 1 or 2 chairs at a time. Working in a big city for a DSO or owner-dentist can be a rat race leading to nowhere. Change your venue ... if possible. As an owner .... you get to manage your time. Your patients will be more respectful of you.

Start now. Start researching some practice ownership possibilities. This will give you an exciting objective towards a healthier future in dentistry.

 

[ToothJockey]

Talking to my colleagues in FQHC dentistry, they have it much easier than me in terms of patient load. If only they paid as much as I earn, I would strongly consider it.

You also have a higher patient load than 99% of private practice dentists to be fair

 

[Cold Front]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

It sounds like you have lost tolerance to stressful situation. Unfortunately, the dental schools admissions don’t screen future dentists for that. Dentistry is becoming more aggressive and demanding due to a host of issues, specially at corporate offices. New grads have huge debt that feels like a big gorilla on their back for the first few years out of school. Is that part of the stress? Is it the office patient schedule? Case loads? Staff? Everything?

Take a time out and get a professional help for the depression. Something has to give, whatever it is, you need help managing it.

 

[TanMan]

You also have a higher patient load than 99% of private practice dentists to be fair

I guess, but their schedules still seem very chill. There's admin days, sick days, seeing a few patients an hour at MOST; it seems a lot more relaxed than corporate. Also, depending on the compensation, being paid per visit means they maximize the amount of visits for an entire treatment plan. Need 10 fills? That's gonna be 10 visits, lol.

 

[LFA20]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

join the military

 

[TanMan]

join the military

Is the military a better option? Are you trapped in a time-commitment if you go the military route?

 

[LFA20]

Is the military a better option? Are you trapped in a time-commitment if you go the military route?

Once you have paid back your initial commitment for the scholarship you can extend anywhere from 1-3 years at a time and get out at the end of that contract.

 

[TanMan]

Once you have paid back your initial commitment for the scholarship you can extend anywhere from 1-3 years at a time and get out at the end of that contract.

Is military compensation comparable to private sector compensation? Not that I would be interested, but genuinely curious.

 

[LFA20]

Is military compensation comparable to private sector compensation? Not that I would be interested, but genuinely curious.

I think in the first 4 years after dental school graduation military definitely wins. For HPSP scholarship: 100% tuition dental school paid for plus monthly stipend of around 2k/month during school and a starting a salary of around $6.2k/month after all taxes and deduction. The pay varies by zip code of your duty station but in general it’s pretty similar. Each year your pay increases by about 2-3%(depending on Washington) and every 2 years it increases by about 4-5%. Upon promotion your pay also increases significantly (O3 to O4, etc)

Most recent grads will do some sort of a gpr/aegd and get paid 50-60k per year. In the military you can do a aegd/GPR although not required and still get paid full salary I mentioned above.

There is also another scholarship called hscp(navy only) on which they give you a total of 200k-300k (depending on zip code of school)split into monthly payments in the course of 4 years. You are responsible to pay your Own tuition but the advantage of this is that your years of service counts during dental school so upon graduation your pay is 4 years higher than HPSP. This scholarship is fantastic if you can get accepted to a low cost state dental school. ( I went to a state school and was able to use this scholarship to pay around 80% of my tuition plus housing. My starting salary was around $7,400 after all taxes and deduction.

You also will have another benefit called GI bill in which you can use to go back to school in the civilian world to specialize tuition free plus a stipend (for a state school) or get paid around 40-50k for a private school WITHOUT any additional military obligation.

Or you can choose to specialize in the military and get paid full salary.


As you can see you can potentially go to dental school AND specialize completely debt free.



and oh your schedule in the military is definitely a lot lighter than civilian counterpart. TONS of downtime and holidays

 

[TanMan]

I think in the first 4 years after dental school graduation military definitely wins. For HPSP scholarship: 100% tuition dental school paid for plus monthly stipend of around 2k/month during school and a starting a salary of around $6.2k/month after all taxes and deduction. The pay varies by zip code of your duty station but in general it’s pretty similar. Each year your pay increases by about 2-3%(depending on Washington) and every 2 years it increases by about 4-5%. Upon promotion your pay also increases significantly (O3 to O4, etc)

Most recent grads will do some sort of a gpr/aegd and get paid 50-60k per year. In the military you can do a aegd/GPR although not required and still get paid full salary I mentioned above.

There is also another scholarship called hscp(navy only) on which they give you a total of 200k-300k (depending on zip code of school)split into monthly payments in the course of 4 years. You are responsible to pay your Own tuition but the advantage of this is that your years of service counts during dental school so upon graduation your pay is 4 years higher than HPSP. This scholarship is fantastic if you can get accepted to a low cost state dental school. ( I went to a state school and was able to use this scholarship to pay around 80% of my tuition plus housing. My starting salary was around $7,400 after all taxes and deduction.

You also will have another benefit called GI bill in which you can use to go back to school in the civilian world to specialize tuition free plus a stipend (for a state school) or get paid around 40-50k for a private school WITHOUT any additional military obligation.

Or you can choose to specialize in the military and get paid full salary.


As you can see you can potentially go to dental school AND specialize completely debt free.



and oh your schedule in the military is definitely a lot lighter than civilian counterpart. TONS of downtime and holidays

Sounds interesting and another avenue to look into for newgrads. Thanks for the thorough information, I'm sure this will help out a lot of people considering the military route.

Edit: For full disclosure, are you a recruiter by any chance?

 

[LFA20]

Sounds interesting and another avenue to look into for newgrads. Thanks for the thorough information, I'm sure this will help out a lot of people considering the military route.

Edit: For full disclosure, are you a recruiter by any chance?

LOL. Im a navy dentist so by default I can not be a recruiter...

 

[dloo]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

Hi friend! I think your worries and concerns are valid, and I understand where you're coming from. I'm still in dental school but worked for a private dental office for a few years before hand. It is very stressful, but so are many things in life. My recommendation is to see a mental health professional and try to see what bothers you the most and how you can best address it. I promise it helps so much, therapy is so underrated! I think once you learn to deal with the stress and handle your worries in a mentally stable way, it gets much much easier. In your case, it seems you value treating people more than making numbers, in that case owning your own practice or being an associate at a private practice (that prioritizes patients not profit) would probably suit you better. Hope you feel better! Hang in there <3

 

[jikooo]

I had very similar experience. Talk with your friends from school. They are probably going through same thing. If you need to talk to someone, message me.

 

[Drjc1977]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

The worse thing to do about your situation as I interpret it is to ignore it. Several concerns from my perspective which may or may not be related. One is primary emotional/mental issues. Going through a professional program is a big stress on so many levels. Recognize this and seek appropriate help. Secondly, the practice you are in may not be right for you. When I graduated veterinary school, I was in a practice that was not progressive, not current, and I thought i made a major educational mistake. After several years I left that practice, did a 180, and ended up for the next 30 years in a progressive, professional practice. I have to blame myself for my early years in that I was not mature enough, or wise enough to realize the quality, and breath of a veterinary medical practice varies so much. Perhaps the worse thing I have to deal with is not the patient, but with the client/patient. Dealing with the public often is very tough and you have to be tough as well. You busted your ass to earn your D.D.S/D.M.D. degree. Seek help, slow down, remember why you wanted to become a dentist. James A. Coleman, D.V.M.

 

[Ali527]

Thanks for all your advice!

 

[Mauricio45]

Hello,
I got my dental license 6 months ago, I have been practicing for 5 months, earning a decent amount ... but I am feeling very bad, stress, depression ... I wonder if it is normal or should I seek professional help.

Dentistry is horrible, everything is production, money, it is f .... factory .... sorry it is sad but it is real life in this industry.

I can totally relate to this. I felt a similar way when I was a new grad. The "cure" for me was finding a new office with supportive people who don't pressure you on production or procedures. It makes an incredible difference when you work with people you get along with. Makes the job WAY more easier and pleasant since our job is stressful as it is.

Life is too short to work in a toxic environment. We worked way too hard for that given the amount of time and schooling we put ourselves through. Never put up with bad behavior from management and/or staff.

 

[DrJeff]

Honestly the mental health side of our profession is something that certainly needs more addressing,

This is a high stress profession and one where the level of pefection that we strive to achieve with each procedure can then seemingly over time "go to waste" if our patients then don't properly take care of the work that we did on them, which often then if it fails is met with a line something like "is that that filling YOU did a few years ago that just broke?" (even if they have documeneted poor oral hygiene and it was say 10 years ago.... It certainly can wear on some.

Let alone the potential looming medicare dental coverage that congress is now considering and the reality that if it passes and is enacted, it will have a signficant neagtive effect on our reimbursement rates as the reality is that quickly those rates will become the norm for far more than just seniors on medicaid. The mental health side of our profession is something that needs to become a much more prominent thing than in the past for sure.

Dentistry can certainly be an enjoybale and rewarding profession, no doubt in my mind. However it takes constant work and effort to make that happen, and some just aren't prepared for that, and may not have the appropriate life skills to handle that

 

[yappy]

Honestly the mental health side of our profession is something that certainly needs more addressing,

This is a high stress profession and one where the level of pefection that we strive to achieve with each procedure can then seemingly over time "go to waste" if our patients then don't properly take care of the work that we did on them, which often then if it fails is met with a line something like "is that that filling YOU did a few years ago that just broke?" (even if they have documeneted poor oral hygiene and it was say 10 years ago.... It certainly can wear on some.

Let alone the potential looming medicare dental coverage that congress is now considering and the reality that if it passes and is enacted, it will have a signficant neagtive effect on our reimbursement rates as the reality is that quickly those rates will become the norm for far more than just seniors on medicaid. The mental health side of our profession is something that needs to become a much more prominent thing than in the past for sure.

Dentistry can certainly be an enjoybale and rewarding profession, no doubt in my mind. However it takes constant work and effort to make that happen, and some just aren't prepared for that, and may not have the appropriate life skills to handle that

I think the biggest missed opportunity to improve mental health for clinicians has been DSOs. If they had delivered on what they were intended to do, dentists and everyone else involved would have less stress.
Instead, they push clinicians to work beyond their abilities in ineffective, poorly managed, poorly staffed, clinics. Worse yet, in my experience DSOs suffer from a lack of professionalism.

 

[Mauricio45]

I think the biggest missed opportunity to improve mental health for clinicians has been DSOs. If they had delivered on what they were intended to do, dentists and everyone else involved would have less stress.
Instead, they push clinicians to work beyond their abilities in ineffective, poorly managed, poorly staffed, clinics. Worse yet, in my experience DSOs suffer from a lack of professionalism.

Alot of private offices are the same though.

 

[yappy]

Alot of private offices are the same though.

That was the value proposition; DSO would bring a level of expertise and professionalism to practice management that was not being done by dental owners. Dentists could delegate administrative tasks and focus on clinical duties. In my experience DSO, on average, are worse than private offices when it comes to running an office. Hence my previous comment about this being a missed opportunity. Instead of helping, DSOs have worsened the workplace and increased stress on dentists.

 

[Rambunctious]

I think in the first 4 years after dental school graduation military definitely wins. For HPSP scholarship: 100% tuition dental school paid for plus monthly stipend of around 2k/month during school and a starting a salary of around $6.2k/month after all taxes and deduction. The pay varies by zip code of your duty station but in general it’s pretty similar. Each year your pay increases by about 2-3%(depending on Washington) and every 2 years it increases by about 4-5%. Upon promotion your pay also increases significantly (O3 to O4, etc)

Most recent grads will do some sort of a gpr/aegd and get paid 50-60k per year. In the military you can do a aegd/GPR although not required and still get paid full salary I mentioned above.

There is also another scholarship called hscp(navy only) on which they give you a total of 200k-300k (depending on zip code of school)split into monthly payments in the course of 4 years. You are responsible to pay your Own tuition but the advantage of this is that your years of service counts during dental school so upon graduation your pay is 4 years higher than HPSP. This scholarship is fantastic if you can get accepted to a low cost state dental school. ( I went to a state school and was able to use this scholarship to pay around 80% of my tuition plus housing. My starting salary was around $7,400 after all taxes and deduction.

You also will have another benefit called GI bill in which you can use to go back to school in the civilian world to specialize tuition free plus a stipend (for a state school) or get paid around 40-50k for a private school WITHOUT any additional military obligation.

Or you can choose to specialize in the military and get paid full salary.


As you can see you can potentially go to dental school AND specialize completely debt free.



and oh your schedule in the military is definitely a lot lighter than civilian counterpart. TONS of downtime and holidays

Sounds really good. I believe OP would benefit from your experience.

 

[yappy]

l

 

[dentalchamp98]

Any updates?

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

It is all just a short period of eternity, and someday you will die and be forgotten forever, so don’t worry about what someone will say.

Morbid, yet comforting lol

 

[schmoob]

do you work with amalgam often? if so, get yourself checked for mercury. I wish you well and please keep us updated.

Mercury? I highly doubt that in 5 months OP has used enough amalgam and been exposed to enough Gamma 2 to have any emotional or psychological effects, if there are any.

I agree with everyone here and encourage seeking professional help. People come to us and only us when they have tooth pain, we have the option of seeing someone when things in life are difficult.

All the best OP, we are rooting for you.