Just Two Minutes: How Passion Quietly Kills Your Dental Career

Bite-sized dental wisdom in under 2 minutes.

Let’s just say it: most dentists are so passionate... until they’re not.

You graduate, super jazzed about helping people, doing cosmetic cases, building your dream practice, blah blah blah.

Fast forward three years and you’re burnt out, bitter, micromanaging your assistant for breathing too loud, and thinking maybe you should’ve opened a smoothie franchise instead.

Sound familiar?

Here’s why: passion is a scam.

“The people who are passionate are the ones who are good. And they got good by doing the boring work long enough to see progress.”

Translation? Passion isn’t something you start with. It’s something you earn after grinding, failing, learning, and leveling up.

Most dentists think the minute their passion fizzles, it means they chose the wrong career. But burnout doesn’t mean you’re broken—it means you expected the work to fuel you instead of realizing the work needs fuel.

Here’s the truth:

• You’re not burnt out because you hate dentistry.

• You’re burnt out because you’re stuck. You plateaued.

• You’re doing the same crap every day, with no growth, no challenge, no wins.

That’s not a passion problem—it’s a systems problem. A mindset problem. A stop-being-the-victim-of-your-own-career problem.

So what now?
You stop chasing the high of “loving dentistry” and start chasing results.
You get better.
You build systems.
You lead people.
You learn how to run a business instead of being eaten alive by one.

Because guess what?
That’s when passion comes back.

-Dr. Alex

P.S. If passion was enough, every 10-year-old who “loved animals” would still be a vet. Most of them now sell essential oils. So maybe let’s focus on getting really freaking good instead.