Stress. We’ve all felt it before in some way or another. We are also constantly advised to keep it to a minimum. Choosing a career that is low stress is a definite win. You might be wondering if dental hygiene is a low stress job.
As a general rule, dental hygiene is a low to medium stress job. Factors that contribute to the levels of stress among dental hygienists include office manager pressures, overbooked schedules, difficult patients, and medical emergencies.
Despite the stress associated with the job of the dental hygienist it is a worthy career to consider. Let’s take a closer look at the several stress factors and find out if they really merit our cortisone.
Stress-The Good
Stress is defined as a natural physical or mental response that aids you with challenging external situations. There’s nothing inherently bad about stress but the intensity of our response could range from beneficial to chronically debilitating.
Did you know that some stress is actually good for you as you carry out your work? Stress can be beneficial because it can enable you to act quickly when it counts the most, especially in a medical emergency.
Have you ever had a patient faint in your dental chair as you prepare for a local anesthesia injection? Immediately you enter into a state of stress that helps you reach for the smelling salts taped to the dental unit and break it to activate the ammonia smell and revive your patient. Once you see your patient coming back that stress level begins to decline.
Or what about if a diabetic patient in your chairs starts to sweat and shake and becomes anxious? Your stress will impel you to sound the alarm in the office because you recognize he or she is having a hypoglycemic episode. You quickly locate the medical emergency kit and administer the glucose the patient needs to become stabilized. Your stress reaction just saved the patient’s life!
Granted, these are extreme examples in a dental office setting but I think you get the point. Dental hygienists will have brief moments of high stress but by no means is it considered a high stress job.
Another example of the beneficial power a measure of stress can bring has to do with reaching goals. Many dental offices (at least the good ones that I have worked at) have production goals to aim toward. I know, I know, some of you professionals reading this might feel that having production goals are the devil but I will be writing a post soon comparing an office having production goals vs. one that doesn’t. But I digress…
These production goals create a sense of urgency that resides in the back of the mind of the whole dental team, including the dental hygienist. That low level of stress (urgency) will actually help reach those goals! That little extra stress makes you reach more often for your intraoral camera to document and show your patients that broken tooth, purulent abscess, or severe recession, even when you are short on time.
Stress-The Bad
A survey conducted by RDH eVillage reported that more than half of dental hygienists feel stressed by their jobs on a daily or weekly basis. This statement can potentially be a little misleading because, as we just discussed, there are different levels and spikes of stress in the average day of the dental hygienist.
Nonetheless, of those surveyed 67% believe an office manager or workload is the cause of the stress.
Oh yeah.
One of the most stressful aspects of the dental hygienist’s experience is dealing with a demanding and money hungry boss. I believe we have all seen it or a least heard of this situation. In their attempt to squeeze as much profit as they can from the high-earning dental hygienist, the manager approves a double-booked hygiene schedule with no dedicated assistant, or a shared (not-really) assistant with the dentist. I think I held my breath as I typed up this scenario. Now this is a high stress office.
Did you notice I said high-stress office and not high-stress career? This level of stress is not baked into the profession of the dental hygienist. Rest assured there are plenty of wonderful dental teams in your area that really care about you as the hygienist and about their patients.
Another source of stress for the dental hygienist can be the patient themselves. Some of them can be rude, sexually creepy, or just plain mean. If you work in an office that treats low to mid functioning special needs patients that can be chaotic because they can be resistant to cooperate with dental procedures. And yet, once they leave, that stress associated with that particular patient also leaves with them.
Now, this might be an exaggerated stress factor but I think it merits mentioning. I get stressed when I am treating a patient that is so very sensitive to my scaling. The look of utter discomfort makes me uncomfortable! But the scaling must go on! So I simply focus through my loupes and try my best to remember the patient does actually want for me to do my job and clean their teeth.
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
-SYDNEY J. HARRIS (aMERICAN JOURNALIST)
Stress-Reducing Techniques
As you can see, the dental hygiene profession is not without its stress levels. As mentioned before it is good practice to keep stress at a minimum. Here are some practical stress-reducing steps to take right in your operatory.
- Remember to Breathe. Set a timer of some sort and just breathe slowly and deeply for one minute. Just one. You will immediately feel your shoulders relax and a sense of calm flood into your mind.
- Stay Organized. If you work in an office that pile on the patients, try coming in a little earlier and make set-up packs with all the materials needed to turn over a room for the next patient. This really helps the transition time and gives you a sense of preparedness that eases your stress.
- Ask for Help. Make your needs known. The more specific the better. Do you need a particular item but can’t leave the patient? Use the agreed upon communication system in your dental practice to ask for the item.
- Change Workplace. If you are still being worked to death, and your communication with the office manager or dentist is not producing a reduction in your stress levels, consider investing the time and energy into changing to an office that will satisfy your needs for a lower stress environment.
If you are considering dental hygiene as a career choice I hope this discussion will aid in your weighing the pros and cons of this wonderful profession. Feel free to look at my other articles on the subject. Feel confident that you know yourself and will do your best to make the best decision for your future career.
