Burnout is being increasingly talked about across the community, and particularly in the health professions. Research shows that 1 in 4 dental practitioners have symptoms consistent with burnout. It’s common to hear people now talking about how they have burned out or are feeling burnt out. So we need understand what burnout is, and what it is not.

Learned Optimism is a strategic way of thinking that can be taught and developed in individuals. It focuses on disputing or challenging those thoughts to better serve us, our wellbeing, and our careers. If you find yourself thinking, “This is ruining my whole life”, ask yourself, “Really? Is this event really ruining my whole life or is it just impacting a specific part of my life, my work, my day?”.

It is often reported that dentists have a high rate of suicide, and this is linked to the stress of working in dental practice. Research conducted by the Black Dog Institute has identified people working in the veterinary, dental, medical and legal professions at higher risk of suicide. Research in Australian dental practitioners found that around 1 in 6 reported thoughts of suicide in the previous 12 months, nearly 1 in 3 had thoughts of suicide prior to the previous 12 months and 5.6% had ever made an attempt to take their own life.

Dentistry is a stressful profession, with stressors including time and scheduling pressures, striving for perfection, fear of litigation, anxious patients, demanding and unrealistic patient expectations (particularly meeting aesthetic needs), business pressures, staffing problems, regulatory demands and negative perceptions of the dental profession. It can also be an isolating profession despite there often being a large number of staff in the workplace.