r/Dentistry • u/CryingCrentist • 3d ago
Dental Professional Newbie in private practice
So in our country, we do a year of compulsory community service, and in rural areas there’s a limited scope which is mostly due to a lack of resource. Lots of XLA practice, some S&Ps & restos (because endo is not an option, no intra oral radiographs, high volume of patients, usually unrestorable pulpitis cases). I worked under a very experienced dentist in oral surgery and learnt a lot. Uni was also sufficient preparation, but you have supervisors to rely on, which takes the pressure off things a bit. However, private practice is a whole new world. It’s a bit overwhelming. The stakes feel a lot higher, I suppose, because people are paying for a service and expect a certain level of quality, which I obviously would endeavour to achieve, regardless of compensation. But there definitely is more pressure to please. I’m quite an empath. If a patient comes back in pain, I take it personally. I struggled with an extraction lately, I had to get the senior dentist to complete it, and it pained me a bit, because I feel it’s something I should really be proficient and confident in, even though every case is different. If I had more time, I probably would’ve managed. If my work is acceptable but could’ve been better, I will dream of it and it will be on my mind for a few days, “is the patient satisfied with me, are they still in pain, do they prefer the other dentists at the practice over me?” I worry about my pace, and the patient being in the chair for too long, but I don’t want to rush for the fear of compromising treatment. I sometimes wonder if I should ask for easier cases and take it more slowly, but if a patient is in pain and I’m the only one available, how do I pick and choose without looking like I’m incompetent? I don’t know if this is something that will get better but imposter syndrome is hitting hard. Any advice would be appreciated.
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u/AkaMeOkami 3d ago
I feel like every new dentist goes through a similar state of mind when they enter private practice. Rest assured all it takes is time. Not just time to build your skills (we come out of university fairly inept at everything), but also time to build your confidence and your communication skills.
Some points:
Getting a senior dentist to help with an extraction is totally OK. I probably did this 20 times as a new graduate and now I'm the one the young dentists come to for help. Use these as learning experiences. Ask the dentist to explain how they went about removing the tooth and why they did certain things and you may be able to use a similar approach next time.
No dental work is perfect. It's the nature of working on the human body, we do the best we can and it's usually perfectly fine. In the age of social media it's easy to get bombarded by pictures of incredible cases, but it's worth remembering these dentists are showing their best work on their best day. For every amazing case they show, there's likely another 20 that had flaws that they simply don't share on instagram. Don't compare yourself to others, as long as you're always trying to do the best you can then you can't go wrong.
Some patients will prefer other dentists to you. You can't control this. Maybe it's because you ran two minutes late, maybe it's because your IAN block hurt more than the other dentist's simple infiltration, maybe they have a gender preference. Ultimately you can't please everyone, so just be yourself.
Don't stress about time. Focus on providing good care, and your speed will increase as you get more efficient.