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19 : The Burnout No One Warned You About in Dental School
Dr. Heath Colledge has spent 19 years as a dentist. In this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on what the job has cost him, what has kept him in it, and why he tells dental students the path most of them are walking is going to break them.
Heath did not grow up in a dental family. His mom drove a school bus. His dad delivered the mail. He chose dentistry at 14 years old because the dentists he saw looked respected, lived well, and had built something. Twenty plus years later, he is one of the few dentists willing to be honest about the parts of the profession no one talks about.
He started his career as an associate. Eighteen months in, he watched his boss carry the weight of a practice alone, and he knew he wanted no part of that future. He joined Comfort Dental shortly after. The partnership model became the difference between burnout and a sustainable career. Today his office runs four partners deep. Each takes on the parts of the business they are built for. Heath handles the numbers and the bills. His partners handle hiring, firing, and operations. They share the clinical load. No one carries the whole thing alone.
Inside the conversation, Heath gets honest about what patients do not see: the payroll thoughts running through his head between root canals, the one bad interaction that ruins an entire week, the standard he holds himself to that no real practice could ever meet. He talks about the high suicide rate in the profession and why solo dentists stuck in failing practices are the ones at greatest risk. He shares the operatory stories he saves for dentist conferences, including the 20 year old denture and the patient who licked food off his prosthetic before handing it back. He gets to his core message for patients: shit happens in dentistry. Roots break. Files break. Anatomy varies. The dentist standing over you is doing their best with the body in front of them, and the dentist who promises perfection is the one to walk away from.
For dental students and burned out dentists listening, Heath delivers his sharpest advice yet on the financial reality no one prepared him for. The $180,000 associate guarantee will not pay off $500,000 in student loans. Income-based repayment freezes your debt rather than killing it. Loan forgiveness is a gamble. Ownership is the way out, and partnership is the way ownership stays survivable.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open and intro 00:25 Burnout: what 19 years actually feels like 02:23 The gap dental school leaves behind 05:20 The standard you set for yourself 07:33 Why some dentists do not survive 08:31 Why Heath left his associate job 09:11 The partnership model 10:40 The patient who ruins your week 12:54 Operatory stories 14:42 The two postures of healthcare 17:17 The two times he gagged 19:51 What he wishes patients understood 22:43 Advice to his younger self 23:53 The dental student trap 29:11 The myth of clinical excellence equaling income 31:31 How partnerships actually divide the work 35:45 What he tells dental students now 37:14 How to reach Dr. Colledge
CONTACT [email protected] comfortdentalfranchise.com
ABOUT THE COMFORT DENTAL PODCAST Behind the mask. Real people. Real conversations. Hosted by Shawn Zajas. Produced by MySocialPractice. Each episode pulls back the curtain on a Comfort Dental dentist, their story, their patients, and the partnership model behind one of the largest dental groups in the country.
Learn more at comfortdental.com.
View all episodes
By Comfort DentalDr. Heath Colledge has spent 19 years as a dentist. In this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on what the job has cost him, what has kept him in it, and why he tells dental students the path most of them are walking is going to break them.
Heath did not grow up in a dental family. His mom drove a school bus. His dad delivered the mail. He chose dentistry at 14 years old because the dentists he saw looked respected, lived well, and had built something. Twenty plus years later, he is one of the few dentists willing to be honest about the parts of the profession no one talks about.
He started his career as an associate. Eighteen months in, he watched his boss carry the weight of a practice alone, and he knew he wanted no part of that future. He joined Comfort Dental shortly after. The partnership model became the difference between burnout and a sustainable career. Today his office runs four partners deep. Each takes on the parts of the business they are built for. Heath handles the numbers and the bills. His partners handle hiring, firing, and operations. They share the clinical load. No one carries the whole thing alone.
Inside the conversation, Heath gets honest about what patients do not see: the payroll thoughts running through his head between root canals, the one bad interaction that ruins an entire week, the standard he holds himself to that no real practice could ever meet. He talks about the high suicide rate in the profession and why solo dentists stuck in failing practices are the ones at greatest risk. He shares the operatory stories he saves for dentist conferences, including the 20 year old denture and the patient who licked food off his prosthetic before handing it back. He gets to his core message for patients: shit happens in dentistry. Roots break. Files break. Anatomy varies. The dentist standing over you is doing their best with the body in front of them, and the dentist who promises perfection is the one to walk away from.
For dental students and burned out dentists listening, Heath delivers his sharpest advice yet on the financial reality no one prepared him for. The $180,000 associate guarantee will not pay off $500,000 in student loans. Income-based repayment freezes your debt rather than killing it. Loan forgiveness is a gamble. Ownership is the way out, and partnership is the way ownership stays survivable.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open and intro 00:25 Burnout: what 19 years actually feels like 02:23 The gap dental school leaves behind 05:20 The standard you set for yourself 07:33 Why some dentists do not survive 08:31 Why Heath left his associate job 09:11 The partnership model 10:40 The patient who ruins your week 12:54 Operatory stories 14:42 The two postures of healthcare 17:17 The two times he gagged 19:51 What he wishes patients understood 22:43 Advice to his younger self 23:53 The dental student trap 29:11 The myth of clinical excellence equaling income 31:31 How partnerships actually divide the work 35:45 What he tells dental students now 37:14 How to reach Dr. Colledge
CONTACT [email protected] comfortdentalfranchise.com
ABOUT THE COMFORT DENTAL PODCAST Behind the mask. Real people. Real conversations. Hosted by Shawn Zajas. Produced by MySocialPractice. Each episode pulls back the curtain on a Comfort Dental dentist, their story, their patients, and the partnership model behind one of the largest dental groups in the country.
Learn more at comfortdental.com.