Nilesh Parmar explains why men’s mental health is such a crucial conversation to have in the high-pressured world of dentistry.
Speaking on Talk TV last week, Nilesh discussed the difficulties of loneliness within the profession and why we all need to remain compassionate:
Isolated environment
Dentists have been found routinely to have some of the highest suicide rates of any healthcare professional, and are comparable to air traffic controllers for suicide rates. If you look at the reasons why, dentistry in itself can be quite a lonely profession with dentists working in isolated environments.
If I was given £10 for every patient who came in and told me they hated dentists, I’d be a very, very rich man. It’s something that can play on our minds. Relating this back to International Men’s Day (earlier this month), we know that two thirds of all suicides in 2021 were men, especially between the ages of 40 and 49. So again, that is something that is affecting all of our healthcare professionals, especially dentists.
As a profession, we obviously look at the mouth, but we also look at other areas – we look at the face and the jaw. We spend a lot of time talking to our patients. We have long conversations with them in terms of their behaviour, in terms of their habits, and what’s happening in their lives.
Signs of stress
When it comes to noticing signs of those going through a tough time, I think you look for nuances. Don’t forget, we see patients on a regular basis – a lot of my patients I’ve been seeing for around 10 to 15 years. You get to know them.
You can tell if they’ve been grinding their teeth, for example. Or they may have been brushing their teeth really well for 10 years, and all of a sudden, they turn up and all hygiene is gone.
They may have chipped fillings; they may have marks on the side of the tongue or on the side of the cheek where they’ve been chewing their cheek. That’s a common indicator of stress, and something has happened in their lives.
Checking in
That’s when you have that conversation with your patient. A simple, ‘how are you?’ just listening to them – I find patients one up to their healthcare professionals relatively easily.
I think sometimes we’re so tight on time that we forget to treat the person. It’s about asking those open ended questions: ‘How are you? What’s going on in your life? What’s happened in the last six months?’
They may say to you that a loved one has passed away, or somebody has been diagnosed with cancer and that’s when the penny will start to drop. All of these things have affected this individual in a way that they haven’t realised and grinding your teeth and biting their cheek is such a common thing that dentists can see a mile off.
We must constantly remind ourselves to treat the person, not just their teeth.
Help and support is available right now if you need it.
The NHS suggests these free helplines for when you’re feeling down or desperate.
Samaritans – for everyone
Call 116 123
Email [email protected]
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)
Call 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day
Visit the webchat page
Papyrus – prevention of young suicide HOPELINE247
Call 0800 068 41 41
Text 07860 039967
Email [email protected]
Childline – for children and young people under 19
Call 0800 1111 – the number will not show up on your phone bill
SOS Silence of Suicide – for everyone
Call 0300 1020 505 – 4pm to midnight every day
Email [email protected].
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