Why is treating deep-disability dental patients more mentally rewarding than maintaining healthy ones?
Because the magnitude of the change in the patient’s life is dramatically larger, and that magnitude rebounds on the doctor’s sense of meaning in the work. A healthy patient who comes in for cleanings and the occasional restoration experiences incremental dental care. The before and after look similar. Their life does not change in any meaningful way. A patient who arrived missing most of their teeth, embarrassed to smile, unable to eat comfortably, and avoiding social engagement, and who leaves with a functioning, attractive, comfortable mouth is a fundamentally different person. They eat foods they have not been able to chew in years. They smile in photographs again. They re-engage socially. They sometimes report personality changes their family had stopped expecting. The doctor witnessing the transformation receives professional reward that no routine maintenance practice can match. The work is harder, the cases are longer, the technical demands are higher, and the emotional payoff is substantially greater. Doctors who have done both kinds of dentistry consistently describe the big-case work as more meaningful. The mental reward fuels the long career.
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.