Australasian Dentist Magazine Sept-Oct 2021

Australasian Dentist 107 Profile T he dental profession has become synonymous with stress and mental health problems over the years and it is something that is not easing with the uncertainty that we are currently facing in the world today. While many outside the profession are perhaps unaware of the stresses present in our industry, the numbers from one such study shows that this is indeed a reality we must address. Assessing more than 3,500 dentists they found that 38% were frequently worried or anxious, 34% said they always or frequently felt physically or emotionally exhausted and 26% said they always or frequently had headaches or backaches. It is important to note that they also found that these symptoms often are associated with anxiety, depression and burnout. [1] In such a stressful environment, one could expect that rest of the dental teamare also suffering these symptoms to a similar level. Hence, for changes to occur in our industry, we must first start by creating an awareness and acknowledgement of these mental health problems in the entire dental workplace. After a decade in the industry, these are the exact circumstances that Dr Viet Le and Dr Chiraag Devani were faced with. Already suffering many of the symptoms described above, in 2014, both were triggered by a severely traumatic event involving a close team member. This was the ultimate catalyst to push them onto their individual journeys in the field of mental health and well-being. Viet was surrounded by the many stressors of everyday life; being a husband, a father, a dentist, and then a recent practice owner. With the need to keep moving with day-to-day life, Viet put everything that he learnt with regards to mental well-being and shift in mindset into practice immediately. It was definitely a case of on-the-job training and he eventually found the balance to help not only himself, but positively influence those around him, including his dental team at The Dental Project and his family. In combination with the stressors described earlier, Chiraag felt that something was very much missing for him in terms of career fulfilment, which was starting to take its toll on his own well-being. While both Viet and Chiraag’s paths were separate, they eventually reunited and came to the same conclusion when Mental health and well-being in the dental industry it came to mental health: that it is something so valuable to our own being, that we need to make it a priority and change our approach to how we have been addressing it for so long. What is the change of approach? It starts with awareness of the idea that the majority of us live with mental health problems and we don’t know it. This may be due to fact that we have been living with these conditions our whole lives that have now become normalised. In order to make a change, we must first be aware of this, otherwise, these problems can eventually develop into a mental illness, such as anxiety and depression. Once one becomes aware, then it is possible to take the steps necessary every day to improve their mental health. The approach involves exploring and bringing to light the individual’s awareness of mindfulness, gratitude, self-worth, and motivating factors behind kindness and service to others. By opening our minds to these deeper concepts, we can work on our own sense of well-being. Implementing this as a team, we can also work on developing healthier connections via more purposeful communication within the workplace. To change how we view dentistry in regards to mental health, we need to work individually and together. While it is a big mission to undertake, we believe spending time facilitating workshops with dentists and dental practices is the first significant step in breaking down these barriers. We look forward to connecting with dental practices all around Australia and New Zealand. u We are currently running Mental Well- being Workshops for Dentists and Dental Practices. Email us on beingtogether101@ gmail.com to register for the workshop, or to get the conversation started for your individual practice needs. [1] Rada and Johnson-Leong JADA, Vol 135, June 2004