Burnout in dentistry: the warning signs before the collapse

Burnout does not always arrive as a dramatic collapse. Sometimes it looks like another full diary, another yes, another day of telling yourself you will rest when things calm down in the surgery.

Lynn Blades knows this pattern well. The founder of Legacy Leadership, journalist and author of The Quiet Burn, she has spent years helping high-performing professionals recognise what they have been trained to ignore.

In this episode of Dentistry Talks, Blades explores why so many professionals miss the warning signs until their body forces them to stop and why dentistry, with its clinical precision, patient expectations, perfectionism, complaints risk, business ownership and the emotional labour of caring for people who are already anxious in the chair, is particularly exposed.

‘The dental industry is full of pressure,’ she says.

Blades argues that one of the biggest myths about burnout is that it can be fixed over a long weekend. The real question, she says, is whether you are recovering properly.

Warning signs include continuous fatigue, brain fog, forgetfulness, loss of interest in things that usually bring joy, physical pain, appetite changes, withdrawal and waking up without feeling rested.

‘When you get to the point where I cannot get out of bed, that is too late,’ she says. ‘That means you have not paid attention.’

How to identify burnout

The episode also looks at how practice leaders can spot burnout in colleagues. Blades says changes in behaviour, more sickness absence, withdrawal, loss of confidence or taking on too much can all be signs that someone is struggling.

Her advice is direct: ask what is going on before the person breaks.

A major theme is boundaries, particularly the difficulty many people have with saying no.

‘No is a beautiful word,’ Blades says. ‘No means self-respect, no means boundaries.’

She argues that people who always say yes can become the ‘worker bee’ who gets everything done without the recognition, promotion or space to shine.

Blades also shares her own burnout story, including the back pain she ignored until two discs collapsed and she needed surgery. It was, she says, the hard way to learn that she was not superwoman.

You can now watch on YouTube and listen on Spotify.

Topics include:

• The early warning signs of burnout in dentistry
• Why recovery matters more than stress alone
• How to spot burnout in colleagues
• Saying no, boundaries and people pleasing
• Social media comparison and professional pressure
• Why self-care is a leadership skill.

Listen to other episodes below:

• How an Olympic bobsleigh athlete learned to weather the storm
• Burnout, balance and building a brand: lessons from the Singing Dentist
• Ageing as a dental professional: how to maintain purpose and identity
• What every dentist needs to understand about trauma and dental anxiety 
• From pitchside to practice: lessons from sports dentistry.

Dentistry Talks podcast is powered by Sensodyne.

You can find out more here.

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