A story about rock bottom to new heights

by KEVIN KUO, DDS, MMSc | October 17, 2019

Dentistry on its own is already complicated. The profession requires immense clinical skills with the need for quality personal interactions with patients on a daily basis. There is a reason for dentists to carry a stigma for having high suicide rates, albeit a mostly false stigma. From afar, the general public negatively perceives dentists due to their conditioned fear of pain. Dentists see people that do not want to see them. This negative interaction naturally can become depressing. You add in harsh physical conditions with high student loan debt, and now you have a recipe for anxiety, depression, marital problems, and substance abuse.

But what if the cause and effect were reversed? Here is an excerpt from David, a dentist, and a classmate of mine:

When I set off on this journey to become a dentist and fulfill my childhood dreams, I was bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and debt-free – but I had no idea just how quickly I would become bruised and broken, standing at the front door of a rehab facility, unemployed, at personal rock bottom and under a mountain of student loans.

To me, it felt like the perfect storm, and like many people who end up checking into rehab, I had tons of excuses – a toxic relationship, burnout from 10 years of school, anxiety about my skills, the future, my profession, and of course the big kahuna, close to $400,000 of student loan debt.

David tells his story from his time as a dental student to his early years as a dentist. Times were certainly difficult. Factors outside of dentistry were the cause in his case. He was a great classmate of mine. It is good to see him do well in the end.