How to Keep it Together, Stay Happy and Have a Long Fulfilling Career: A Dentist's Perspective

You're listening to the Phil Klein Dental Podcast As a dental health care provider, are you feeling overwhelmed or burnt out? Do you have days where you're so exasperated with so many things in your office that you wonder how you can keep going to work every day? Well, according to many experts, you're not alone. So the question is, what can you do about it? How could you make things better, feel more fulfilled about your career? and B, just plain happier. Well, it may not be as difficult as you may think to turn things around. To help us put this all in perspective and give us some real-life recommendations into how to enjoy dentistry again is our guest, Dr.Josie Dovidio. After 22 years, she made the difficult decision to sell her practice in order to address health issues related to the prolonged... physical and mental stress inherent to dentistry. She now helps dental professionals, quote-unquote, undo what dentistry does to the body, mind, and soul via her Crown of Wellness program. You can check out a free training video that she offers. It's about six minutes long. You can find it at crownofwellness.com forward slash stressorx. Dr. Dovidio is going to be joining us in a second, but first, if you're doing endo, then you need to know about Jay Morita's new Root ZX3, the latest generation of the world's best-selling apex locator. In addition to its sleek design, smaller footprint, and larger high-contrast display, the Root ZX3 accommodates the revolutionary HF module, which utilizes high-frequency conduction. Once you snap on the module, which is quick and easy to do, the RootCX3 becomes an invaluable tool in helping you prepare the canal system. Using its high-frequency conduction, the HF module effectively ablates pulp tissue, dental filling materials such as gutta percha, and tissue in and around root canals. It can also tackle procedures such as gingivoplasty, gingivectomy, hemostasis, and excision of intraoral lesions. For more information about this revolutionary advancement in endodontic treatment, visit marina.com. Dr. Dovidio, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Phil, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me. So many dentists claim to be overwhelmed, burnt out, or are finding themselves unhappy in dentistry. It's unfortunate, but there is a large swath of dentists that fit into that category. Why do you think that is? Well, you know, before I get to the crux of it, I want to clarify the difference between burnout and overwhelm, because I think that in dentistry, we use that interchangeably. And they are related concepts, but they do have some differences. So burnout is really a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. And that usually comes from prolonged stress or, you know, chronic stress that's unaddressed. So typically dentists end up feeling emotionally drained and they feel like they can't even meet the demands of their work life, let alone their personal life, right? Life outside of work. So we've all seen these dentists who are burnt out because we know them because they've become pretty cynical. We can see the discussions that they're having and, you know, it just. lends to cynicism and really just ultimately a detachment from your responsibilities. You start to feel like you're just going through the motions. Overwhelm, on the other hand, is different because it's more of a feeling of being swamped or inundated with tasks and responsibilities, but it's really more of a short-term reaction to whatever comes up in dentistry or in your personal life. And it just feels like you have too much to handle at once. overwhelm doesn't necessarily lead to burnout, right? It can be more short-lived. But if you don't address the overwhelm for sure, then it becomes a chronic thing and then it will lead to burnout. So I think that ultimately dentists are expressing either overwhelm or burnout ultimately because they're really only focusing on certain areas of their life. And usually what happens is They become very imbalanced and they can sense that, but they can't really put their finger on what's wrong. And they just kind of blame dentistry or patients or insurance, you know, all of the easy targets, the low hanging fruit. But ultimately what I have discovered in working with clients, you know, you mentioned I am a yoga teacher. I'm also a certified wellness consultant and I'm working specifically with dentists. And helping them live a more balanced life so they can come out of this burnout and overwhelm. But ultimately what I've noticed is that people are focusing on certain things and neglecting other things in their life. And really to live well, we have to look at eight different areas of life. Yeah, so I was going to ask you that. So in the psychology world, when they talk about wellness, as we spoke earlier offline, they kind of break it up into eight dimensions. And these eight dimensions need to be balanced where, like you said, you can't focus on only two because then you're out of balance. And that could lead to feeling overwhelmed and, as you say, eventually burnout, which could destroy someone's career and make their workplace a very unhappy place to be. And they'll certainly lose their satisfaction in their career. So to better understand this, what are the eight dimensions of wellness that dentists need to consider as a whole so that they can balance all of it? Yeah, absolutely. So the eight dimensions are as follows. Physical wellness, emotional, intellectual, social, environmental, occupational, financial, and spiritual. And these dimensions collectively contribute to our overall well-being. And if we pay attention to them, they can lead to us having a more balanced and fulfilling life. Now, I do want to say, because I know someone listening going, you know, who's feeling overwhelmed already is probably going, oh my gosh, I already have so much to do. Now I have to pay attention to all of these eight things. And the idea is not to be perfect at these eight things. The idea is to become aware that they exist and they play a role in how you feel about your life. And so ignoring them isn't going to make you feel any better. Right. And usually what I notice is dentists are focusing on two or three of these. They're putting all of their energy into those two or three, ignoring all the others, or they may not even understand that there are a total of eight of these things. So bringing attention to them is just as important as trying to do more with these eight. So out of the eight. dimensions of wellness that you mentioned and you only mentioned it once if you could go through it one more time and then i'll pose the next question what are the eight again so they're physical emotional intellectual social environmental occupational financial and spiritual okay so my next question is out of those eight two or three are kind of the priority in many dentists' minds. And I would have to guess, and I know nothing about this, certainly compared to you, financial is probably one of them. But anyway, I'll let you answer that question. What are the two to three that dentists most focus on? And because of that, they're kind of neglecting the other important dimensions, and that would lead to an imbalanced life. Yes, absolutely. Well, you hit the nail on the head. They tend to focus on financial. occupational, and then physical. When I say that, I don't mean that they're doing great in those three areas. I just mean that they're spending all their time, effort, and energy trying to get these things in order, right? I think most people go into dentistry for a variety of reasons, but it's very few people that go into dentistry saying, you know, truly, I want to make a lot of money, right? that is a nice benefit of being a dentist is you do have the opportunity to do that. But what happens is we come into the industry with loans and then we have overheads and all of the things. And so financial does start to take over and we want to make sure we're solvent and that we're living a nice life and providing for our families. And so financial starts to become a really big role. And so how do we ensure that we are becoming financially well, so to speak? Well, then we start focusing on our occupational wellness. Taking all of the CEs, how can we become better dentists, better leaders? How can we run a better business? And so then we start to focus our time, effort, and energy on occupational wellness. And then, of course, because we're working hard, we tend to have physical aches and pains that go along with the practice of dentistry. So then we start to become aware of the physical aspect of our well -being, right? Are we exercising? Are we stretching? Are we going to get muscles? the chiropractor, as it were, or whatever you need to be physically well enough to do your job so that you can work towards the financial wellness. And so it becomes sort of a vicious cycle of focusing on these three things, not necessarily being successful at them, but just focusing on them. And we start to neglect the five others. We'll be right back with Dr. Dovidio in a second, but first, as a dental professional, you spend a large part of your day in the operatory. That's why partnering with the right dental company for the best dental equipment is so important to you and your practice. 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Not at the expense of the others. We don't want to ignore the others because that is what leads to us never feeling whole, complete, content, happy. in our profession so focusing on one thing or one area with with neglect of the others is what leads to this feeling of overwhelm and burnout right and before you get into the other dimensions that dentists should focus on what do you say to the dentist that says there's only so much time in the day and i need to i need to focus on the finances because I just bought a practice and I need to buy a CBCT machine and I just hired a new hygienist. I need to focus on my occupation because I need to be trained on all these new digital workflow systems in order to pay for all the equipment I just bought and pay my help and pay myself. And the third one was physical, which means I need to keep in shape. So I need to take walks. I need to work out. By being in shape and being physically active, I'm happier. Having done all that, where am I going to make the time to focus on any of the other dimensions of wellness you talked about? Right. Well, that's very valid. I think a lot of it falls in line with understanding what you're trying to accomplish in your life. We get we become very myopic in dentistry, right? We become very career focused. But there is more to life than dentistry. And I think a lot of us older docs, when we reflect back. can see where we've neglected certain areas of our life. And so a lot of it is mindset related. What exactly are you trying to accomplish for your life? And is this an idea that you've developed yourself or are you taking on other people's visions or ideas of what your life? should look like right so there's that aspect of it but then with the awareness of the other ones you can actually couple some of these things with the other areas like for example you can couple social wellness and environmental wellness with your physical wellness so what does that mean so environmental wellness is just uh you know allowing yourself to evaluate your environment in the various aspects whether that's at work or at home and changing it up So physically, can you exercise outdoors and get a change of scenery and feel more refreshed with the fresh air? Can you invite your family members to join you for some social wellness? Can you meet up with friends to, you know, spend some time outdoors? So with the awareness, you can start to couple and pay attention to these other areas of wellness within the timeframe that you're already focusing on those, you know, first three that we tend to focus on. priority for a dentist. And I know it's all individual and it's based on the individual person. We're all different. But for that dentist that focused on those three, finance, occupation, and physical, what would you say the next dimension of wellness would be really critical towards at least trying to keep that dentist in balance? Such a great question. I think it obviously is a very individual answer because everyone comes from a different family of origin, different cultural considerations, different lifestyle wants or needs. So ultimately, if I have to take a step back, I will say the one that is the most neglected by the most people, and that is spiritual wellness. And when I say that, I don't necessarily mean religious. I don't necessarily mean like, woo. You know, like not like that. I mean, having a sense of who you are, what you want, what is your desire for this world, your place in the world? How do you want to contribute? What do you want people to know about you or say about you? Because once you have a clearer picture of your spiritual, let's say, energy or footprint on this planet. then the other things start to fall into place. You understand why it is that you're doing what you're doing. You're not just going through the motions and then wondering why you're unhappy. You may not even know what it is that makes you happy. You might just be following the path you think you're supposed to follow based on what you hear in industry magazines or in different... uh industry avenues and so i feel like once you know spiritually what this is all for why you're doing it that will guide your decisions better and i think that is very powerful what you're saying because essentially the spirituality could actually become the priority dimension of wellness where everything comes from that In a sense, it gives it all meaning. It gives everything you do meaning in a much deeper way, right? And with that meaning, you are certainly have the potential to be much happier and deeper. things in the office that would normally upset you, and you can kind of brush them off when you have that deep connection to your own spirituality. What is your recommendation, Dr. Davidio, for a dentist to find that connection in a spiritual way? How does one do that? I guess they could do that religiously, but cover both religiously and non -religiously. Well, obviously, religiously, you know, a lot of people have some sort of connection to religion from their upbringing. Some people can go back to that if they identify with that or explore different avenues. Right. I mean, the world is your oyster ultimately. But if someone who's not inclined to be plugged into a religious sort of spirituality, you really do need to just start spending time reflecting. It all starts with awareness and asking yourself, what is my purpose? Do I know that? Can I find out? What can I do to find these things out? And obviously, in the spiritual realm, there are many books and podcasts and things that can help you sort of self-explore what it is that you're doing and why. And you may need to find someone to help you with that. You may need a trusted friend who... feels more spiritual to you or has it, you know, seems to have their life figured out or seems to offer and live a sense of contentment that is attractive to you. It might be worth having a conversation with someone like that. It could mean working with a mentor or a coach. I mean, there are so many avenues to explore, but I think the very first thing and the reason I'm so delighted to be on your show is to simply have an awareness that this is an important thing to consider. So Dr. Dovidio, some of us are very spiritual in nature and some of us handle stress better than others for sure. And it might be very well tied into those people that are more engaged with their own spirituality. But some of us are very practical and we're going to be focusing on the physical, the financial, and the occupational side of these dimensions of wellness that you mentioned. So when that... person is headed toward burnout and they want to correct this and they want to get in touch with their spiritual side so they can start improving their positivity and their just outlook on life and be happier. What's the timeframe on this, on being able to show an improvement in one's happiness once they start connecting with their spirituality? And is it very difficult for some of these people to do that? Right. Well, that's the age old question, isn't it? I mean, I feel like it can be a lifetime journey, right? But there are practical ways we can start to get in touch with that. And you hear this, I'm sure, all the time, and that is to start by practicing gratitude, right? Even if you don't know who you're grateful to or why, just starting to notice the things that are going well. things that you're thankful for, right? Because there is plenty to complain about when you are in dentistry. There's plenty to complain about. And that is what keeps us unhappy. And so can we do a simple thing and start to notice the good, start to notice the good things that we have, right? Like, yeah, maybe my body hurts, but hey, I can at least still move my body, right? And so if I'm thankful for that, how can I honor my body a little bit better? Right. And so, yeah, I might be annoyed by all the bills coming in and all the prices going up, but I am thankful that I have the resources to pay for those things. Right. And so that that thankfulness then starts to bring a sort of respect or a reverence for that financial situation. And so because now I have a reverence for it, how can I be more mindful to be more financially well? You know, where am I inadvertently wasting money? Where could my money be better spent? And so you start looking at those things. If you're thankful that, you know, for example, you own a practice, you might be thankful that you get to be your own boss, right? I think a lot of us have spent so many years being our own boss that we forget what a privilege that is. You know, in my own career, I've, you know, I had a private practice for over 22 years and now I'm working at the VA through the VA dental system. And so now I'm an employee and I'm reflecting a lot on how blessed I was to be able to be my own boss and not have to follow directions from other people. Right. And so when you start to attach gratitude to all these different things in areas, it starts to develop in you a more spiritual mindset and practice that will evolve over time. You know, it's sort of like planting a seed and then watering it and watching what grows. Yeah, very well said. And how does your yoga fit into this? Because I know you're a professional yoga instructor and yoga obviously is not only physical. movement of the body, but it's also the mind and the soul working together. How does that work in your programs that you run right now? And as we wrap up this podcast, I want you to tell us how our audience can get in touch with you to just learn more about this and see what you offer. Yes, absolutely. So in yoga, there are many different styles of yoga. It's kind of like saying dentistry, right? But are we talking restorative, perio, endo? So in yoga, it's sort of the same thing. There are many different styles. The styles I tend to focus on are slower moving, good for any body type. You know, we're not doing handstands or anything like that. And my aim in utilizing yoga, the physical movements of yoga and the breath work and the meditation is to help. overwhelmed and burnt out dentist, slip out of the sympathetic response that they are stuck in and move into the parasympathetic response where they can feel calmer, more relaxed, have the ability to rest and refocus. Because, you know, I'm sure your listeners may remember from back in the anatomy days or, you know, when you're in the sympathetic response, you're basically in survival mode. And it becomes hard to think clearly. And it becomes hard to enjoy life because you constantly feel like you're being chased by the lion, so to speak. And so the way I utilize yoga in my programs, it's less of an exercise and more of an inner size. How are we calming our nervous system down so that we can truly appreciate all that we are working so hard for and striving for? So can we slow down? Listen. acknowledge, and appreciate our mind, body, and soul so that we can truly be engaged in our lives instead of aiming for the next thing. Very well said, Dr. Dovidio. I only wish that many more dentists and dental team members keep what you just said in mind. It certainly would be a huge help in preventing many of us to become overwhelmed and burned out. What is the best way to reach out to you? So I am pretty much on all social media avenues. with at yoga for dentists. But I get a lot of inquiries in my email, you know, along the lines of like, I'm so stressed out and burnt out. I don't even have the bandwidth to know where to start. And so I have developed a six minute video training that I offer for free. And people can go to crown of wellness.com forward slash stress are X. And they can, you know, have immediate access to this six minute. video training where i review the dimensions of wellness again and i offer some insight and questions that dentists can ask themselves so they can start to self-reflect and see where they're at on their journey And, you know, over time, if they want to connect with me further and know more about the courses that I'm offering, they're certainly welcome to email me or connect with me through social media as well. Yeah. And your email is Josie, J-O-S-I-E at yogafordentist.net. Dr. Dovidio, we really enjoyed having you on the show. Thank you very much for your time. We hope to have you on future podcasts so we can go into more depth on this very important topic. Have a great evening and thanks again. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks so much for listening. See you in the next episode.