Anxiety and Dental Hygiene Go Hand in Hand
Last week, I was chatting with my coworker and fellow RDH just about life, catching up kids, and seeing that’s new. With this convo, I expressed I was feeling so anxiety with a busy work load, 2 daughters to support in all the ways and raise, speaking at 2 new meetings about new topics in 1 week, and just life. She replied in jest, "Of course you do. You’re a dental hygienist. All dental hygienists have some low grade anxiety burning inside of us."
Of course that made me laugh and not feel so alone in my anxiety mess, but I haven’t stopped thinking about that conversation.
All dental hygienists have anxiety. Would you agree? I’m not going to lie- I’ve been asking so many of my dental hygiene friends this week about anxiety and they all agreed- working in a patient facing profession with a tight schedule all day is a lot on the body, let alone adding the stresses of life like spouses, kids, family dynamics, community responsibilities, and more. We feel a lot as healthcare provider and care givers, and those feelings often come out as anxiety.
So do you agree with this statement? How can we support dental hygienists at this high anxiety time in our lives?
If you yourself have noticed you are having boughts of anxiety in your clinical day, here are a few things you can do to help ground yourself.
Breathe. Breath is so fascinating. It is the one we can physically/mentally control when are feeling scared or anxious that will automatically have a physical response. Slowing our breathing will automatically start slowing our heart rate and break that “fight or flight” response.
Pause and look around. With feeling anxious, it is always about the future and thinking about what’s next, what if, what would happen, etc. Looking around and seeing that everything is good right at that very second can bring you back to the present.
Feel the warm of the sun. In between patients (if there is a second) head to the window or out the door. Feeling the sun can held regulate the nervous system.
And remember, you’re not alone in this hygiene world and feeling all the feelings. I’m experience the exact same thing and working through it each hour with each patient.
xoxo, Melia