You are what you think
MARTIN R. MENDELSON, DDS, FIADFE, CPC
Your thoughts shape your emotions, guide your actions, and manifest your results. In the world of dentistry, challenges abound regardless of your role in the practice. When working with dental professionals and their teams, I’ve observed that mindset and transparent communication are the linchpins that differentiate good teams from exceptional ones. Fostering a cohesive and contented team is not just desirable but indispensable in today’s dental landscape. Easier said than done.
Dr. Viktor Frankl, a leading authority in neurology and a Holocaust survivor, made a powerful observation about human behavior when he said, Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space, is our power to choose our response. In our response, lies our growth and our freedom.” Our interpretation of stimuli guides our responses. Thus, the pivotal factor is not the event itself but how we perceive and react to it. What does this mean for dental providers?
Consider this scenario. It is your practice’s policy not to leave contaminated instrument trays in the sterilization room unattended. One day, you discover this policy was violated. Because of the instruments on the tray, you immediately know who left them. So, the instruments left in the sterilization room is technically neutral. As Dr. Frankl describes, what happens next is how you choose to interpret this action.
You might think this individual did it intentionally, or you may even wonder, “Why do I have to do everything around here?” — now, you
are angry. Your thought has given rise to an emotion, which is now facilitating an action. So, you decide to give this person a piece of your mind. You march towards the break room to find them.
When you find this colleague, they are crying. Why? Something awful had just happened in their lives. Now, what are your thoughts? Now, what are your actions? What changed? How would giving them a piece of your mind manifest in the result of processing those instruments? It doesn’t.
Once you discovered the colleague in the breakroom, the only thing that changed was your thinking about the situation based on new information. The fact a procedural policy was violated still exists. You went from anger to compassion in the blink of an eye because an assumption was voided.
How often have you encountered this type of scenario — not the same one, but one where something happens, and there is an interpretation? The resulting actions (or silent treatments) can be carried out for days, weeks, months, or even years. What would it be like to have a culture where all practice members are expected to communicate on a different level?
This shift in thinking exemplifies the ability to reframe reactions. The adage, you cannot teach an old dog new tricks is false, and there is a term for this. The term is neuroplasticity. Dr. Matt Puderbaugh1 describes it as “a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes to the brain. It is defined as the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections.”
So, yes, anyone can learn new thought patterns, and positive brains will help your dental practice succeed. Creating a cohesive and
happy team is possible. When I work with teams, we create an agreement, a constitution, and a contract that focuses on what kind of practice we want to attend every day, how we agree to show up when there are challenges, and how we agree to keep each other accountable.
This exercise establishes a mindset that can change the face of a practice. By opening the door to effective communication, all parties are able to be heard and gone are the days of sweeping things under the rug. Trust is established. Teams work together to provide excellent patient care by prioritizing effective communication and mutual respect.
Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build Theory2 substantiates that a broadening effect of our cognitive function is biological. The “positive chemicals” of dopamine and serotonin help us to feel and function better. These chemicals allow for additional neural connections, allowing us to think more clearly and creatively and become more adept at complex analysis.
Reflect on moments when you’ve felt upset, exited a conversation, and regretted not expressing specific thoughts or missing key points. Barbara Fredrickson’s Broaden and Build Theory offers a compelling rationale for such experiences.
A study by Dr. Taylor W. Schmitz3 showed that our mood changes how effectively our visual cortex operates. Individuals were shown pictures.
Participants in negative moods did not process all the details in the pictures. They missed significant parts of the background. Those in good moods saw all the details.
In another study by Dr. Heather A. Wadlinger4, participants who were trained to concentrate on positive information selectively “looked significantly less at the negative images in the visual stress task following the attentional training, thus demonstrating a learned aversion to negative stimuli.”
Comprehensive attention to detail is crucial in a dental practice regardless of your role. If team members harbor negative mindsets, it will impact your bottom line.
Clinicians need to assimilate large volumes of information to make a diagnosis, and inflexibility in thinking or anchoring (trouble letting go of an initial diagnosis or the anchor), even in the face of new evidence, can be detrimental to the diagnostic process.
Dr. Carlos Estrada5 sought to investigate the influence of a positive effect on clinical reasoning, anchoring, and efficiency. In his study, he split physicians into groups, and they were given medical information to review and then come to a diagnosis. The group that was promised some candy (i.e., primed to be positive) demonstrated less anchoring and came to a diagnosis faster than the other groups involved in the study. Even just a minimal burst of positivity affected their diagnostic acumen.
Treatment planning and case acceptance are the bread and butter of any practice. Imagine what we may be missing by harboring negativity instead of working through it on a more regular basis.
A study by Bryan assessed the impact of positive moods on students’ feelings of self-efficacy and math performance. A group of students were asked to remember one of the happiest days in their lives before taking a standardized math test. Those students who were asked to remember these happy times outperformed the other students not asked to recall fond memories. The study concluded that “children in the positive-mood condition completed significantly more problems accurately than children in the no-treatment control condition.”
Positive brains operate more efficiently, enhancing diagnostic accuracy with fewer missed details. Psychology devotes an entire branch to positivity, and these studies barely scratch the surface. Studies and knowledge are one thing — action is another.
Now, take tangible steps forward to cultivate positivity and improve team dynamics with these suggestions:
- Create an agreement or constitution outlining expectations for communication, teamwork, and accountability within the practice.
- Hold regular team meetings or huddles to discuss practice policies, challenges, and successes openly.
- Encourage team members to express concerns, share ideas, and constructively provide feedback.
- Start each day with a morning huddle focused on expressing gratitude for successes and positive experiences and identifying challenges.
- Encourage team members to share moments of gratitude, whether related to patient care, teamwork, or personal achievements.
- Provide training or workshops on the science of positivity and the impact of positive emotions on cognitive function.
- Offer resources for team members to develop resiliency skills, such as mindfulness practices, stress management techniques, and self-care strategies.
- Foster a supportive environment where team members feel empowered to overcome challenges and bounce back from setbacks with optimism.
- Encourage collaboration and mutual support in daily interactions, emphasizing the importance of treating colleagues with kindness and respect.
- Provide opportunities for team members to engage in activities in and outside work to strengthen bonds and foster camaraderie among team members.
As a profession, we stand as heroes, alleviating pain, restoring function, and nurturing self-confidence through aesthetic procedures. Our work is undeniably miraculous. In your most challenging moments, I urge you to keep this in mind.
We have all fallen into patterns of thinking that have served us in one way or another to get us to where we are today. If you are feeling stressed and burnt out, you can change your patterns to better serve you. You cannot choose everything in life, but you can choose your
attitude. By cultivating a positive mindset and fostering open communication, dental professionals can navigate challenges with resilience and optimism to enhance patient care and practice outcomes. As the dental industry continues to evolve, may we embrace positivity as a guiding principle, empowering us to overcome obstacles and thrive in our incredible field.
He can be reached via both his:
Website: www.martinmendelson.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/metamorphcoach/
1. Puderbaugh M, Emmady PD. Neuroplasticity. [Updated 2023 May 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan.
2. 2004 The broaden–and–build theory of positive emotions Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B3591367–1377
3. Opposing Influences of Affective State Valence on Visual Cortical Encoding Taylor W. Schmitz, Eve De Rosa, Adam K. Anderson Journal of Neuroscience 3 June 2009, 29 (22) 7199-7207; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5387-08.2009
4. Wadlinger HA, Isaacowitz DM. Looking happy: the experimental manipulation of a positive visual attention bias. Emotion. 2008 Feb;8(1):121-6.
5. Carlos A Estrada, Alice M Isen, Mark J Young, Positive Affect Facilitates Integration of Information and Decreases Anchoring in Reasoning among Physicians, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Volume 72, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 117-135,
6. Bryan T, Bryan J. Positive mood and math performance. J Learn Disabil. 1991 Oct;24(8):490-4.
