Dentistry Is F*cking People Up

This space was born from burnout—mine, and maybe yours too.

Here is where I write about the emotional cost of perfection in dentistry, the weight of carrying the invisible emotional load for our patients, our team, and our loved ones, and what it takes to rebuild when this impossible idea of “success” nearly destroys us.

This is where I’ll talk about how addiction brought me to my knees and my humbling surrender thru detox and rehab. Rehab was BRUTAL but it also was the turning point, the beginning of my real life. I’ll talk about learning to understanding my ADHD and how it deeply impacted all aspects of my life and my relationships. I’ll go into the pain and shame of letting go of my toxic marriage and subsequent divorce. I’ll talk about why my practice failed and what I would do differently. I’ll talk about the grief of having to let go of the person I was to reinvent myself to the person I am.

Basically I’m letting it all hang out on a level that is cringe-worthy. Why?

Because I wish someone had said this shit out loud when I was silently falling apart. I wish I hadn’t looked at everyone else profiles and believed they were all perfect and I was the only one drowning.I spent too many years thinking I was alone —when the truth is, the culture of dentistry is built to reward self-abandonment.It has a burnout problem. A perfectionism problem. A humanity problem.And no one is fixing it from the inside.

There are too many brilliant docs suffering in silence, thinking “I’m the only one fucking up.Too many of us white-knuckling our way through expectations that are unsustainable and inhumane.Dentistry is quietly bleeding out—and we’re pretending it’s just fine.

This isn’t about walking away from dentistry.It’s about reconstructing it.Telling the truth. Owning our misery. Making space for something better.

If you’ve ever felt like you were disappearing behind the smile you’re expected to wear—this space is for you.

Here, we stop pretending.We start rebuilding.