Surviving or Thriving? What Dentistry Is Finally Doing About Clinical Burnout

By Genni Burkhart, Editor

According to the American Dental Association's (ADA) 2024 Trend Report, 82% of dentists reported major stress and career burnout. CareQuest Institute for Oral Health research also found that 71% of oral health providers have an increased feeling of burnout since the COVID-19 pandemic. As nearly everyone working in healthcare after the pandemic can relate to, burnout doesn't just disappear, it accumulates. Jobs like those in dentistry that demand steady precision and long, unmoving postures can slowly wear you down physically. Mentally, the daily exposure to patient anxiety inevitably lands on the clinician. Add in a dash of perfectionism, and it's easy to see why solo and small-practice dentists often carry an overwhelming amount of stress. Without a proper support structure in place, the stress of daily practice and life can get the best of even the most seasoned dental professional.

The ALL IN Coalition Takes Shape

March 18th, 2026, marked the 4th anniversary of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, the only federal law ever passed specifically to prevent suicide and reduce occupational burnout and mental health conditions among healthcare professionals. The law carries the name of Lorna Breen, MD, a celebrated emergency medicine physician and faculty member at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, who died by suicide in April 2020 while treating COVID-19 patients.

The ALL IN Wellbeing First for Healthcare coalition, led by the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation, works to remove the structural and policy barriers that keep healthcare workers from seeking mental health care. The organization is comprised of 35 coalition members, including the ADA, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Medical Association (NMA), the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA), and more.

Valuable Resources For the Dental Team

The ADA Dental Well-Being Index (WBI) has been free to every dentist, dental student, and dental team member since the ADA expanded access in July 2025, regardless of membership status. Developed and validated by the Mayo Clinic, it's a nine-question survey that takes about five minutes and is completely anonymous. It screens across burnout, fatigue, depression, stress, and quality of life, then connects users to ADA and state-level resources as soon as they finish.

The BDJ Open validation study confirmed that the index works as intended. It catches distress early and gives the clinician somewhere to go with what they find.

A Different Kind of Practice

Some of the pressure driving burnout has less to do with the clinician and more to do with the structure of the practice itself. Volume-heavy schedules, back-to-back appointments with anxious patients, and tight margins leave little room to breathe, let alone recover. For dentists who've reconsidered that model, adding IV sedation has changed the daily equation in ways that go beyond revenue.

Sedation patients are a different appointment. They've consented to a calmer, more controlled experience, and the clinical environment around those cases tends to reflect that. Higher revenue per case also means fewer cases needed to hit the same production targets, which translates directly to a less pressured schedule. Dentists who've built sedation into their practice often describe the shift as working smarter inside the same number of hours.

Thriving Is the Goal

Five years after COVID-19 reshaped the profession, the pace, financial pressures, and emotional demands of dentistry and healthcare in general remain. Thriving in this environment takes more than just endurance. The data and the tools exist, and thankfully the conversation around mental health and the wellbeing of providers is expanding. The demands of providing care in America today are unlike anything the profession has faced before, and no dentist or team member should have to navigate that without support.

Part of that conversation is learning to distinguish between burnout and depression, two conditions that overlap but require very different responses. Burnout is occupational, rooted in the structure and demands of the work environment. Depression is a medical condition requiring clinical treatment. The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation has published a clear breakdown of the distinction, including a roadmap for addressing each, here.

In a promising move, some states have also begun removing stigmatizing mental health questions from dental licensure applications. This meaningful shift addresses the single biggest barrier keeping clinicians from seeking care. The ADA continues to advocate for the removal of "stigmatizing questions" related to mental health and substance use disorders from state dental licensure applications. They also maintain a valuable, state-by-state, dental-specific peer support and wellness directory here.

Resources available to dental professionals right now include:

• The New ADA 1 CE credit course, "Putting Your Oxygen Mask on First: Prioritizing Health and Well-Being in Dentistry available here.
• The ADA Well-Being Index, free and anonymous for every dental professional at https://www.ada.org/resources/practice/wellness/well-being-index.
• The ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare coalition directory of confidential mental health resources at drlornabreen.org.

Chances are you or someone you know has felt the weight of burnout, or something closer to depression. Asking for help is okay. So is changing how you practice, leaning on your peers, or simply knowing where to turn.

References:

1. American Dental Association. ADA extends Well-Being Index to dental team members. ADA News. July 2, 2025.
2. Versaci MB. New ADA course offers strategies for supporting dentists' mental health. ADA News. March 17, 2026.
3. CareQuest Institute for Oral Health. Burnout among dental professionals before and during a public health crisis: causes, consequences, and next steps. Boston, MA: CareQuest Institute; 2022.
4. Giri S, West CP, Shanafelt T, et al. Distress and well-being in dentists: performance of a screening tool for assessment. BDJ Open. 2024;10:3.
5. Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation. ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare.
6. Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation. Burnout vs. depression.
7. American Dental Association. Mental health resources for dental professionals.
8. American Dental Association. Dental Well-Being Index.

Author: With over 16 years as a published, award-winning journalist, editor, and writer, Genni Burkhart's career has spanned politics, healthcare, law, business finance, technology, and news. She resides in Northern Colorado, where she works as the editor-in-chief of the Incisor at DOCS Education.