Everything I Hate About Being A Dentist

Summary

In this candid vlog, Cafe Maddie, a part-time dentist and content creator in New York City, offers an inside look at her daily life as a dentist, highlighting both the physical and emotional tolls of the profession. She discusses the downsides, such as the physical exhaustion, lack of lunch breaks, emotional strain, and the sales-driven nature of dentistry, while also acknowledging the rewards of meeting diverse individuals and the financial benefits. Maddie's honest reflection provides insight into the dental career and its challenges, which may resonate with those considering or working in the field.

Takeaways

• 😀 The vlogger, known as Cafe Maddie, is both a content creator and a part-time dentist in New York City.
• 🔍 She aims to provide an honest look into the realities of a dentist's workday and the downsides of the dental profession.
• 🏥 Maddie shares her personal experience of transitioning from a full-time to a part-time dentist due to burnout.
• 💪 Dentistry is physically exhausting, with dentists often dealing with neck and back problems due to the nature of the work.
• 🥪 Maddie mentions the lack of lunch breaks as a common issue in dental offices, affecting work-life balance.
• 😓 The emotional toll of dealing with anxious, demanding, or rude patients is highlighted as a significant challenge.
• 🤝 Despite the challenges, Maddie appreciates the opportunity to meet and connect with a diverse range of people through her job.
• 🤔 She expresses a dislike for the dentist community, finding it often money-driven and sales-oriented.
• 🏠 Maddie laments the inability to work remotely in dentistry, contrasting it with her content creation work.
• ⏰ Dentists are under time pressure to complete procedures within allotted hours, which can be stressful.
• 💰 There is a push within the profession to sell treatments, which Maddie finds offputting and against her principles.
• 👩‍⚕️ Despite the downsides, Maddie acknowledges the financial rewards and respect associated with being a dentist.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video by Cafe Maddie?

The main purpose of the video is to give viewers a realistic look into a workday as a dentist and to discuss some of the downsides of the dental profession that are not commonly discussed in public.

Why does Cafe Maddie feel she can be honest about the downsides of being a dentist?

Cafe Maddie feels she can be honest because she believes she doesn't have much to lose and wants to provide a brutally honest perspective for those considering dental school.

What was the reason for Cafe Maddie transitioning from a full-time to a part-time dentist?

Cafe Maddie transitioned to a part-time dentist because she was burnt out from her full-time position and found it more enjoyable and less exhausting when it became part-time.

What are some of the physical challenges a dentist faces during a workday according to the video?

Dentists face physical exhaustion, often feeling like they have been hit by a truck at the end of the day due to the physical labor involved in manipulating small tools in a patient's mouth for long hours.

Why does Cafe Maddie mention that dentistry can be emotionally draining?

Dentistry can be emotionally draining because dentists deal with patients who are often scared, anxious, demanding, or rude, which can be challenging to manage throughout the day.

How does Cafe Maddie describe the experience of meeting a wide variety of people through her work as a dentist?

Cafe Maddie describes it as one of the best parts of being a dentist, as she gets to see a slice of life of all kinds of New Yorkers and gain valuable perspectives from these interactions.

What is one of the main reasons Cafe Maddie dislikes the dentist community according to the video?

Cafe Maddie dislikes the dentist community because she has found it to be generally money-driven, salesy, with big yet fragile egos, and sometimes inappropriate behavior at networking events.

Why does Cafe Maddie mention the inability to work from home as a downside of being a dentist?

The inability to work from home is a downside because it contrasts with the flexibility and perks of remote work that other professions, like content creation, can offer.

What does Cafe Maddie find stressful about the timing of work in dentistry?

Cafe Maddie finds it stressful that work in dentistry is timed by the hour, with the pressure to complete procedures on time, especially when considering the waiting patients.

How does Cafe Maddie feel about being pushed to sell treatments as a dentist?

Cafe Maddie dislikes being pushed to sell treatments as it feels salesy and offputting, and she prefers a fixed salary to avoid this pressure.

What positive aspect of being a dentist does Cafe Maddie mention in terms of social perception?

Cafe Maddie mentions that being a dentist comes with a certain level of respect and can be advantageous in social settings, especially when dealing with professional-based crowds.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introducing Cafe Maddie's Dual Career

In this vlog, Cafe Maddie introduces herself as both a content creator known for her recipes and a part-time dentist in New York City. She plans to share a realistic workday as a dentist and discuss the downsides of the dental career, providing honest insights for those considering dental school. She also addresses misconceptions about her quitting her full-time dental job and explains her transition to part-time work.

05:01

💪 The Physical Toll of Dentistry

Cafe Maddie talks about the physical exhaustion that comes with being a dentist. Despite the perception that dentists mostly sit and perform delicate tasks, she describes the physical strain of working with patients' facial muscles and maintaining awkward postures for long hours. She highlights the common issue of neck and back problems among dentists and the lack of proper lunch breaks, often having to eat between patient appointments.

10:02

😞 Emotional Challenges in Dentistry

She discusses the emotional challenges of dentistry, dealing with anxious, demanding, or rude patients. The job is draining, especially when handling people in pain or uncomfortable situations. However, she also finds joy in meeting a variety of people from different walks of life, which adds value and perspective to her job, making it hard for her to let go of her part-time dental work.

👥 Disliking the Dentist Community

Cafe Maddie expresses her dislike for the dentist community and networking events, where she has experienced unprofessional and inappropriate behavior. She criticizes the money-driven and egotistical culture among dentists, preferring to avoid such events. Despite this, she acknowledges that there are exceptions and some dentists she admires.

🏠 The Dream of Remote Work

She mentions her dream of working from home, which is not possible in dentistry. The pandemic highlighted the benefits of remote work, something she now enjoys as a content creator. This flexibility is a significant perk compared to the necessity of being physically present for dental work.

⏱ Stress of Timed Procedures

Dentistry involves timed procedures, adding stress to the job. The same treatment can take different amounts of time depending on the patient, creating pressure to adhere to schedules. This aspect of the job contrasts with professions that have more flexible deadlines.

💰 The Sales Pressure in Dentistry

She discusses the discomfort of being pushed to sell treatments, a common practice in many dental offices. To avoid this, she chose a fixed salary over a higher pay-per-procedure rate, prioritizing peace of mind. Despite the downsides, she acknowledges that dentistry is a well-paid profession.

🦷 The Respect Factor

Being a dentist carries a certain respect, which she finds useful in social situations where content creators might be judged. She uses her dual identity strategically, presenting herself as a dentist or content creator depending on the context.

🎥 Closing Thoughts

In her closing, Cafe Maddie reflects on her honest rant about the pros and cons of being a dentist. She invites viewers, especially those in similar healthcare jobs, to share their experiences. She ends by thanking her audience and promoting her other videos.

Keywords

💡Dentist

A medical professional specialized in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of oral diseases and conditions. In the video, the content creator discusses her experiences and challenges as a part-time dentist in New York City, highlighting the physical and emotional demands of the profession.

💡Content Creator

An individual who produces and shares digital content such as videos, blogs, or social media posts. The video creator, known as Cafe Maddie, balances her role as a part-time dentist with being a content creator, sharing her experiences and perspectives through online platforms.

💡Burnout

A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress and overwork. The video creator mentions experiencing burnout from her full-time dentistry job, which led her to transition to part-time work to improve her well-being.

💡Networking Events

Social gatherings intended for professionals to meet, interact, and establish business relationships. The video creator describes her negative experiences at dentist networking events, citing inappropriate behavior and a sales-driven culture among some attendees.

💡Physical Exhaustion

A state of extreme physical fatigue resulting from strenuous activity or prolonged physical exertion. The video creator emphasizes that working as a dentist is physically exhausting due to the demanding nature of dental procedures and long hours spent in awkward positions.

💡Patient Interaction

The engagement and communication between a healthcare provider and their patients. The video creator highlights the emotional challenges of dealing with patients who may be anxious, demanding, or rude, and the impact this has on her day-to-day work as a dentist.

💡Lunch Break

A designated period during the workday for employees to rest and eat. The video creator notes that she often does not get a proper lunch break in her dental jobs, which contributes to her physical and emotional exhaustion.

💡Work-from-Home

The ability to perform job duties from one's residence rather than a traditional office setting. The video creator contrasts her content creation work, which can be done from home, with dentistry, which requires physical presence in a dental office.

💡Sales Pressure

The stress or expectation to promote and sell products or services. The video creator discusses the discomfort she feels when pressured to sell dental treatments to patients, preferring to work on a fixed salary to avoid compromising her integrity.

💡Job Satisfaction

The level of contentment and fulfillment an individual feels with their job. The video creator expresses mixed feelings about dentistry, noting both the rewarding aspects, such as meaningful patient interactions, and the challenges that make the job less enjoyable compared to her content creation work.

Highlights

Introduction to a day in the life of a part-time dentist and content creator, Cafe Maddie.

Honest discussion about the downsides of a dental career that most dentists won't talk about.

Cafe Maddie's transition from full-time to part-time dentistry due to burnout.

The physical exhaustion of dentistry, with comparisons to physical labor.

Common health issues among dentists, such as neck and back problems.

The lack of lunch breaks for dentists and the impact on work-life balance.

Emotional challenges of dealing with scared, anxious, or demanding patients daily.

The rewarding aspect of meeting diverse patients and learning about their lives.

Cafe Maddie's personal experiences with the dentist community and networking events.

The inability to work from home as a dentist compared to other professions.

The stress of timed work in dentistry and its comparison to hourly deadlines.

The pressure on dentists to sell treatments and its impact on patient relationships.

The financial benefits of being a dentist despite the challenges.

Cafe Maddie's perspective on the social advantages of being a dentist.

A candid reflection on the profession, including personal likes and dislikes.

Invitation for other healthcare professionals to share their experiences.

Conclusion and transition to more content creation and recipes in future videos.

Transcripts

hey guys welcome to Cafe Maddie and

another Vlog today instead of cooking I

wanted to take you guys around a pretty

realistic workday as a dentist I'm

currently a content creator and you

might know me better as Cafe Maddie and

my recipes but I'm also a part-time

dentist here in New York City as I take

you along my day I also wanted to talk

about something most dentists probably

won't talk about which are downsides of

this Dental career and I understand why

they won't publicly talk about it

because it'll probably look bad to their

patience and practice but in my case I

guess I don't have much to lose and can

be brutally honest about it so if you're

watching this and looking into going to

dental school I don't know watch this

and see if any of this might apply to

you and maybe think

again side note some of you might have

seen my job quitting video and might be

wondering I thought she quit her job to

pursue her dreams well if you stay till

the end of that video you'll know that

when I quit my full-time Dentistry job 2

years ago I transitioned to being

part-time and I've been parttime since

and you know I probably hated every

second of being a dentist by the time I

quit my fulltime because I was burnt out

but it became a little better and

sometimes even enjoyable once it became

a part-time gig but I'll be honest

lately compared to my content creator

job it's been a

drag out here in the wild you can see a

Creator in her natural habitat a white

man in his natural

habitat shuer hat oh the cardigan and

the barber because he you can see an

attorney and this dog fighting for his

life so I'm going to share seven things

I hate the most about being a dentist

along with some things that I do love

about it which is maybe why I haven't

let go of this job yet so here we

go number one Dentistry is physically

exhausting at the end of a workday

working as a dentist there is not a

single single day I don't feel like I

got hit by a truck you might think

dentists are mostly sitting down and

doing dainty small hand motions all day

but actually you're doing small talk

with a patient wrestling with cheek

muscles tongue and Chin muscles which

are pretty strong by the way while

staring down doing a mini construction

into a tiny hole in the mouth for 8 to

10 hours a day non-stop sometimes I

Gaslight myself too thinking why am I so

tired it's not like I'm doing physical

labor but actually

I am and it sure feels like it every

single dentist I know has neck and back

problems and a number of people I know

have gotten disc in the spine as early

as their 40s because dentists are

physically overworked okay number two

maybe this isn't a big deal but it is

for me as a dentist I don't get a lunch

break I know it's illegal but almost all

my jobs I've had in Jersey and in New

York only one dental office offered a

lunch break and instead I was expected

to eat in my downtime or when there was

a cancellation the thing is that patient

cancellation can be at 10:00 a.m. or

4:00 p.m. or or there might not be

downtime at all so when I'm at work

often times I take a few bites of my

sandwich in between patients put my

sandwich down and come back to it every

downtime that I get and when it's super

busy I only have time to finish half my

sandwich and I have to take home the

other half I don't know I feel like a

lot of healthcare workers and private

practices are like this and if you're

watching this as a dentist let me know

how it is for you I'm actually curious

if I've just been unlucky with my jobs

or so many of these places actually have

so much audacity to disrespect employee

rights number three Dentistry is

emotionally draining with a handful of

exceptions the dental office isn't

exactly where people want to be I would

say that any public facing service job

would be like this but it's a lot to

deal with when you see about 15 to 20

patients a day and most of them are

scared anxious demanding or they talk

too much or sometimes even straight up

rude it's already draining to have a

person in front of you already in pain

and getting an uncomfortable procedure

that you're performing even if at the

end of the day you're providing a much

needed solution to their problem and let

me tell you it's a thousand times worse

when they give you attitude there is

nothing more that ruins my day than a n

NY rude patient and you'll be surprised

it happens a lot more than you think and

I think the longer I'm in this

profession the fuse for dealing with BS

gets shorter with patience okay but that

being said getting to meet so many

people in so many different parts of

their life is maybe the best part of

being a dentist while some people are

draining others are truly wonderful

interesting and admirable even and I

love getting to know them as humans even

during the short time I spend with them

during their appointment you know now

that I think of it this must be the

reason why I have a hard time letting go

of my part-time dentist job the fact

that only through this job I get to see

A Slice of Life of all kinds of New

Yorkers I think I

saw 17 patients today

yeah I'm tired you might think that the

life of a pretty decent sized content

creator is cool because I get more

opportunities to meet famous talented

and successful people but when I think

of the most heartwarming and meaningful

conversations and encounters I've had in

New York it's mostly from being a

dentist and meeting all sorts of people

in New York City old young poor rich

people of all backgrounds and jobs and

terrific

personalities I'm always is touched when

I meet middle-aged daughters taking care

of their elderly mother and sometimes I

meet elderly couples taking care of each

other while one of them is sadly very

sick I meet women in their 30s single

happy and thriving women in their 40s

with teenage daughters young teachers

old professors musicians Broadway

actresses even medical students doctors

surgeons and there is so much value and

perspective I gain from being able to

interact with these people especially

when they come week after week for a

multivisit procedure as much as a nasty

patient really ruins my day when I get

to hear about someone's life story their

creative projects their dreams there's

nothing more that makes me happier so

for now maybe I don't think it's healthy

for me to be in my New York City young

professional bubble that's so easy and

comfortable and hard to escape at times

anyway I digress back to what I hate

about Dentistry okay speaking of people

number four although I like some of my

patients I don't like

dentists I said it I don't like the

dentist Network I don't like the dentist

Community I have had the absolute worst

experience going to dentist networking

events when I was looking for jobs in

New York City and I quickly realized

from these events that the culture of

dentists are generally very money-driven

salesy with a big yet fragile ego and

sometimes just straight up weird more

than one of these networking events

which mind you were at one of the most

official Dental associations in New York

I've seen disgusting middle-aged male

dentists being sleazy trying to hold my

hand while acting like they're going to

hire me flaunting about their yachts and

New York apartments and making

inappropriate comments to me multiple

occasions the biggest relief when I got

a job in New York City was not having to

go to these appalling disgusting

networking events so I didn't have to

meet more dentists in my life of course

there are exceptions and there are

dentist friends and professors that I

adore and love but in my opinion they

are far in few and number five as a

dentist I hate the fact that I can't

work from home I guess remote work is

more of a recent phenomenon since the

pandemic but I think it's definitely a

great perk in a profession the fact that

you can work from anywhere so working

from home has always been a dream of

mine and look at this cartoon I drew a

while back dreaming of the remote

Dentistry

life although it didn't work out exactly

the way I thought it would I'm actually

so happy that as a content creator I can

make content at home the rest of the

week I guess it's kind of silly but

truly a dream come true for me but

full-time Dentistry than about it you

can't get the job done or get paid

unless you're physically there it was a

nightmare for me especially during the

pandemic number six your work is timed

by the hour and it is stressful because

the nature of Dentistry isn't so black

and white and straightforward the same

procedure on one patient might take

twice as long on another patient because

of different factors so while you're

given a reasonable amount of time for an

appointment you're under a lot of

pressure to finish the task on time

especially when the next patient is

waiting outside in the waiting room this

is a lot more stressful than you think

and while I accepted it as a reality for

a long time it actually didn't occur to

me until my friend who has a tech job

pointed out how I had an hourly deadline

on a daily basis instead of a weekly or

quarterly one number seven worst of all

more often than not as a dentist you're

pushed to sell treatment and this is why

dentists often come off salesy and I get

it even as a dentist it's offputting and

it's embarrassing from the very start of

my career I really wanted to avoid this

situation at all cost because it made me

so uncomfortable that the manager or

practice owner were pushing me to sell

and be more aggressive with treatment so

that they can make more money so I took

the rout of getting a fixed salary even

if it was on the lower end so that I

wasn't paid per procedure I did get a

pay cut but the piece of Mind was so

worth it for me but I remember the

majority of the job interviews I was

doing and the jobs that I've quit right

away it really felt so awful to be put

in a position to push treatment on

patients not all practices will be this

way but some of the jobs that I've had

it definitely felt that way and that

being said being a dentist is a very

well-paid job even with the pay cut that

I just mentioned I'll be honest I like

that about Dentistry the fact that the

hard work pays well at the end of the

day I've said this before but it's a

huge privilege to enter this profession

in the first place because of the sheer

amount of money that goes into the

education but I don't know these days

you can go to a quoting boot camp that

cost a fraction of dental school

education and exceed the dentist salary

straight out of college but that's

something you should talk about with

somebody else lastly here's something

that I kind of like about being a

dentist and it's kind of minor kind of

superficial but can I be honest there is

a certain respect you can get from

saying that you are a dentist and

believe it or not it comes in pretty

handy in my content life I think there

still is a stigma out there about being

a content creator where people try to

box you into being creative but dumb or

not having a legitimate job so when I go

to an event or meet some people that

I've never met before and I read the

room and I can sense that I might be

judged or the nature of the crowd is

more like a profession-based crowd I

introduced myself as a dentist and then

when I feel like I could connect better

with creatives in the room I introduced

myself as a content creator or Tik

tocker so I guess I do like that I can

play this to my advantage outside of

work in Social settings so that was my

pretty honest rant about everything that

I hate about being a dentist and some

things that I like about it I guess

obviously this is totally limited to my

experience my personality and

preferences so take it with a grain of

salt but if you're a dentist or in a

similar Healthcare job let me know in

the comments if this resonated with you

at all I'm actually really curious to

hear about your experiences so thanks

for watching yet another video and see

you in more of my recipes and

[Music]

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