I know! He always shares the best comments! I’m dying to give him his own entire post! 😉

Eric, As always… well said! Yes, Yes, Yes! (Mostly because you agree with me… JK! From your description about how we over-worry to how we are trained in dental school, it’s so true. I also think that because we are so good at what we do in general, people forget that we are working with nature and many unknowns that come along with working on the human body. We have made dentistry so “easy” that people forget it’s actually surgery! I guess that also fits into the idea that we are trained to be mechanics too.

Do you feel like you have overcome that idea of worrying too much or fixing other people? If so, I’m curious to know how you did that. I still have to remind myself, but it’s so cool to see it work. The other day I had a conflict with my schedule, and I was double-booked. It was well enough in advance that I was able to let the client know and we rescheduled. However, I still had to talk myself through the process and remind myself that it’s okay… she’s okay… nothing is wrong here… it might not be perfect, but it’s only a minor inconvenience (if that.) I was able to avoid feeling guilty and spiraling down the rabbit hole of worrying for no real reason… and to give myself a break, to not be so hard on myself. It is so freeing. I wasn’t very good at that 8 years ago, so it’s nice to see that evolution!

Thanks for always sharing such thoughtful points!

I wanted to always please the patients, well beyond 100%. I believe that particular desire stems from my personality — that of being compassionate and wanting to help others as much as possible. That’s why I went into dentistry! It wasn’t until later that I realized that I simply could not be responsible for every single thing that did not work out — especially those that I had NO CONTROL over. Yet still I blamed myself.

I believe that is partially the fault of the way I was taught in dental school. It perpetuated the idea that we are nothing more than mechanics. Unlike surgeons, who have no problem explaining the numerous things that can go wrong in a procedure — because it is the human body that is being worked on, not exact science — patients (in general) tend to expect complete perfection from dentistry. (A full lower denture without implant retention should function like natural teeth. “My grandfather could eat corn on the cob with his dentures — why can’t I??”). And for some reason people get annoyed waiting more than 15 minutes in the reception area. (Yet my ENT doctor routinely runs an hour behind, and no one complains!).

I like what you said about being supportive to others, but not feeling the need to fix them. Too much of that thought process will be detrimental to one’s health. I’m fine with it all now — I only wish I would have learned it many years ago.

I hope others will be open to you helping them in the challenge of learning more about themselves. It is not something to be ashamed of or taken lightly. We really only have a short time on this earth — make the most of those remaining years!

Thanks for all that you do… especially your compassion for others.