By Someone Who Thinks You Deserve a Damn Trophy

You did it. You bought the dream.

A beautiful little practice, a shiny autoclave, some charming artwork from Etsy, and a vision board with “FREEDOM” written in sparkly gold marker.

Fast forward five years and that dream feels more like a caffeine-fueled roller coaster where you’re the engineer, the mechanic, the train, and the passenger clinging to the edge of a derailed track yelling, “Just one more crown!”

Welcome to practice ownership. It's beautiful. It's brutal. It's both the best and hardest thing you'll ever do.

Let’s talk about it.

🧨 The Real Reasons Dentists Burn Out (And It’s Not Just the Composite That Won’t Cure)

Let’s break down why so many practice owners are teetering on the edge of burnout. No, it’s not just because your lab made a zirconia crown that could double as a manhole cover.

1. You Wear All the Hats (and None Fit Well)

CEO

CFO

HR Manager

OSHA Compliance Guru

Therapist for patients terrified of cotton rolls

Dentists are trained to drill, fill, and thrill—not manage payroll or negotiate with a janitorial service that’s ghosted for three weeks straight.

2. Staffing Is a Full-Time Circus

Hiring. Firing. Rescuing team morale. Writing policies nobody reads. Someone’s cousin’s boyfriend is applying to be your assistant with no experience but “really good vibes.”

3. The Insurance Game is Rigged

You’re fighting with faceless insurance reps about why yes, in fact, a patient needs their molar to chew food. Nothing crushes the spirit like a claim denial that says “Not medically necessary” for a tooth that looks like a meteor hit it.

4. Your Schedule is a Ticking Time Bomb

Doctor late. Hygienist sick. Emergency walk-in with a toothache “that’s been bothering me for 6 months, but I need it fixed before my wedding in two hours.” Oh, and your kid’s school just called. They have lice. Again.

5. You Can’t Turn It Off

Even at 2 AM, you're still awake wondering if that new patient with 7 veneers will show up, if your front desk remembered to verify the Delta Dental plan, or if you locked the door to the opiates cabinet.

🧯 Now Breathe: Here’s What Helps

You’re not alone. Every burned-out doc has sat in that same chair (ironically, not the dental one), staring into space while humming along to whatever sad Spotify playlist was playing in the background.

But there’s hope. You’re not crazy—you’re just human. And help is out there.

✅ 1. Hire a Great Office Manager (Then Empower Them)

Don’t micromanage. A competent OM can be your lifeline. Let them handle the chaos while you focus on clinical excellence.

✅ 2. Outsource the Headache Stuff

Credentialing? PPO negotiations? Insurance verifications? Let companies like Veritas Dental Resources (shameless but helpful plug) handle it so you can get back to being a dentist—not an unpaid insurance intern.

✅ 3. Learn to Say No

Not every new patient is a good patient. Not every PPO contract is worth signing. Not every 7 PM emergency should be squeezed in “as a favor.”

✅ 4. Invest in Systems, Not Just Technology

Scheduling templates, new patient intake workflows, daily huddles, and KPI dashboards will do more for your peace of mind than any new scanner ever will.

✅ 5. Therapy. Yes, Really.

Normalize it. You’re not broken. You’re just doing an impossible job in a broken system. A mental health pro can help you unload the pressure valve before you pop.

⚖️ Balancing Business with Patient Care: The Great Tightrope Act

Here’s the thing: the best dentists aren’t just great clinicians. They’re also great leaders.

They understand:

That delegation is not a sign of weakness (it’s a business strategy)

That training and team development pays dividends in both patient satisfaction and operational flow

That working on the business (not just in it) is what moves the needle

They also protect their clinical time like a dragon guards its gold. Meetings, phone calls, and business decisions don’t interfere with their time in the chair. And when they’re with patients, they’re present—because their systems are sound and their team is empowered.

🌅 Your Career Will Pay Off—Here’s Why

Despite the stress, the debt, the occasional feeling that you’re one leaking pipe away from moving into your operatory full-time… dentistry is still one of the most rewarding careers out there.

You get to:

Restore people’s confidence

Take away pain

Create beautiful, tangible results

Build lasting relationships with your community

Build wealth on your own terms (eventually, when you charge what you're worth)

And when you get it right—when your systems click, your team gels, and your patients appreciate the heck out of you—you feel like a rockstar.

💛 A Final Word: Be Kind

Yes, vendors mess up. Labs get it wrong. Insurance coordinators quit. But don’t let the grind harden you. The world doesn’t need more bitter business owners—it needs leaders with compassion.

Be kind to your team.

Be kind to your vendors.

Be kind to yourself.

Because even if your business fails (heaven forbid), you don’t have to. You are not your production report. You are not your Yelp reviews. You are a person who took a leap into ownership to make life better for others.

And that matters.

👑 The Takeaway: You’re Still the Hero

Every practice owner is on their own hero’s journey. Some days you’re Frodo. Some days you’re Gollum. But if you keep showing up, keep learning, keep striving for excellence—you will see the fruits of your labor.

And one day, you’ll look around at your thriving practice, your well-trained team, your smiling patients—and you’ll know:

All the headaches were worth it.

But until then?

Take a deep breath.

Take a long lunch.

And for heaven’s sake—take a vacation.

You’ve earned it.

Written for the stressed-out, overworked, occasionally-crying-in-the-supply-closet dentist who's still fighting the good fight. Keep going. You’re doing better than you think.

Benjamin Tuinei
Founder – Veritas Dental Resources, LLC
Phone: 888-808-4513
Services:
PPO Fee Negotiators · PPO Fee Negotiating · Insurance Fee Negotiating
Insurance Credentialing · Insurance Verifications
Websites:
www.VeritasDentalResources.com | www.VerusDental.com