How does continuing dental education turn into a coping mechanism for some dentists?
By becoming an emotional substitute for addressing the harder business and operational realities of practice. Learning new procedures is something many dentists, by training and inclination, do unusually well. The classroom environment, the structured curriculum, the visible mastery progression, all feel familiar and rewarding. When the business side of the practice is struggling, the doctor who finds CE comfortable often turns to it for psychological relief. The course pulls them out of the practice for a few days. The new technique gives them something to feel competent about. The certificate provides visible accomplishment. None of it addresses the actual constraint, which is patient flow and case acceptance. The doctor returns to the practice, the underlying problem is still there, and the cycle repeats. Some CE-coping doctors end up so highly trained that they could deliver virtually any procedure clinically, while their practices slide toward bankruptcy because the business side has been neglected for years. The CE addiction looks productive from the outside. It functions as avoidance.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.
