How to Avoid Burnout as a Dental Hygienist

Key Takeaways

• Hygienists can avoid burnout by maintaining open communication with their team, resting more frequently, and making changes to their routine.

• Burnout among dental hygienists is unfortunately common due to long hours and physical strain associated with the job.

• Steps for combating burnout include improving ergonomics, building in recovery time, and maintaining strong communication with your team.

• Pursuing flexible work opportunities is a great way for dental hygienists to build a better work-life balance into their schedule.

Why Burnout Is So Common in Dental Hygiene

Dental hygienists do an important job, with contributions that are incredibly valuable in improving their patients' quality of life. However, the importance of this job can sometimes weigh heavily, between the necessary procedures and the sometimes difficult schedule.

Becoming a dental hygienist means recognizing that it is a demanding profession, with a daily routine that involves repetitive clinical work, demanding patient schedules, physical strain, and limited recovery time between patient appointments. As a result, the dental hygienist burnout rate is much higher than some might expect. In one survey alone, as many as 60.6% of hygienists reported experiencing burnout.

Burnout often builds slowly in times of stress and eventually becomes more apparent, so being proactive and mindful of the risk is the best way to combat it. Feeling overwhelmed doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in the wrong profession, but it may mean you need to adjust. Taking practical steps to protect your mental and physical well-being can help tackle dental hygienist burnout and support a sustainable career.

When Stress Starts Becoming Burnout

Many jobs can be at least a little stressful. However, it’s crucial that you can identify the signs of stress that could snowball into an unsustainable burnout. Stress shouldn’t be dismissed as just part of the job; it is a genuine area of concern, and it’s important to get out in front of it in order to prevent burnout and preserve your mental health.

Unmanaged stress for dental hygienists often turns into burnout that can slow your career and affect your overall well-being. It’s important that stress is treated as a preventable part of the job, and not something to willfully ignore, as it compounds into burnout.

Common warning signs of burnout include:

• Emotional exhaustion
• Declining job satisfaction
• Chronic fatigue
• Physical discomfort
• Irritability
• Difficulty staying engaged with patients

Burnout typically reveals itself slowly. After all, any of these signs can manifest as simple outliers. However, if you notice that any of these symptoms are frequent or become a pattern, you should begin taking steps to protect yourself from added stress.

How Your Work Environment Influences Burnout

The hygienist position is often associated with long hours, consistent physical activity, a high level of skills, and frequent social interactions, which, for many individuals, can be enough to encourage burnout on its own. However, the work environment itself can contribute to burnout depending on factors like workplace culture, staffing levels, and scheduling.

All of the following factors can influence morale and play a role in potential burnout:

• Scheduling: Being scheduled for long hours or on a schedule without the flexibility you need can add stress and lead to exhaustion.
• Appointment length: Long appointments or back-to-back appointments can be mentally and physically exhausting, especially when they're regular occurrences.
• Office culture: A workplace culture where team members struggle to get along, fail to communicate, or do not provide support can all make the workplace less enjoyable and more conducive to burnout.
• Staffing Levels: A practice that is short-staffed ends up piling more work onto fewer people, often burning out the remaining hygienists more quickly.
• Management: Practice management that is unsupportive, creates added pressure throughout the workplace, or simply is not understanding of employee concerns is a frequent cause of burnout.

Unfortunately, burnout is not a matter of personal will; it is a natural bodily response followed by consistent daily stress. If you are constantly feeling fatigued or stressed after the workday, it may be time to consider practical changes.

Practical Ways to Make Clinical Days More Sustainable

With a demanding career, it’s important that hygienists build in safeguards to manage the physical as well as the mental and emotional stress of their role. The same way that small sources of stress can build into burnout, small steps to making clinical days less stressful can make each week more manageable.

Consider some of these steps to ease stress and make your daily routines more sustainable:

• Improving Ergonomics: Maintain good posture, explore different shoes or gear, and find the right tools for your clinical shift to reduce physical strain throughout the day.
• Communicating Concerns: Be honest with your manager and other members of your team to seek additional support, whether you need a reduced appointment load, different working hours, or simply an extra hand.
• Varying Routines: Adjusting your clinical routines, the order of your patient schedule, and even the days you work, can help reduce monotony and keep things fresh, helping you avoid burnout.
• Building in Recovery Time: Recovery and rest time in between appointments during the day is critical for allowing yourself to decompress both mentally and physically, and so is getting consistent sleep in the evening outside of work.
• Take Personal Time: Whether it’s taking days off or being mindful of how you are spending your weekends, make the most of your time away from work to do things you enjoy and get plenty of rest so you can come back to the practice fresher.

Creating a work-life balance is sometimes easier said than done, as it cannot be handled simply through wishful thinking. While creating work-life balance is possible, it’s important to be practical and realistic. A healthy work-life balance requires a tangible effort—discuss your goals with your manager and your team, and build a schedule that fits your personal needs. Making small changes can have significant and meaningful impacts over the course of a few months to several years into your career.

When a Different Practice May Be the Better Solution

If you have struggled to find balance and relief in your current practice, even while taking practical steps to combat burnout, there may be a chance that a new work environment may be a better fit. Rather than abandoning a fruitful career in dental hygiene, it’s worth trying a new environment first.

A change of environment may be the best way to avoid burnout, reduce stress, and support career longevity and satisfaction. Whether it’s a different workplace culture, weekly schedule, or a new area of dental hygiene practice, changes to your environment can help you exit a cycle of stress and burnout.

Also consider flexible work opportunities across a variety of practices to differentiate your environment, build a balanced routine, and pursue your career goals. Proactively seeking alternative opportunities rather than waiting for burnout to strike can help you feel more fulfilled and create the schedule you want.

Building a More Sustainable Dental Hygiene Career

While a career in dental hygiene may involve some level of unavoidable stress, dental hygienist burnout doesn’t have to be a norm. Flexible work opportunities can help hygienists gain better control over their schedules, feel confident in the work they’re doing, and overcome burnout. A platform like Toothio helps put dental hygienists in control of their careers.

Toothio connects dental professionals with flexible work opportunities, promoting work-life balance by empowering you to pick up shifts on your terms—on your schedule and at your preferred pay rates. Toothio connects skilled professionals with both permanent and temporary work opportunities in reputable practices in their area. With several locations throughout the country, our network features a wide variety of fulfilling work opportunities from Los Angeles to New Jersey.

Sign up with Toothio and start picking up dental hygienist shifts today.