Victoria Wilson explores how oral healthcare professionals can protect their energy, strengthen resilience, and reclaim joy in practice by integrating simple wellbeing strategies into their daily routine.

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Dentistry is a demanding profession. Long hours, clinical intensity and the responsibility of caring for patients can take a toll on our bodies and our minds. After more than 20 years in the profession, I have learned that thriving in dentistry requires more than clinical skills and commitment to continuing professional development (CPD); it requires conscious daily attention to our own wellbeing.

That is why I am so looking forward to leading the ‘Reflect & Recharge workshop' at 9.45 am on the Saturday at the conference hosted by the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy (BSDHT) and the British Society of Periodontology (BSP) this year: the Oral Health Summit 2025. This will be a restorative session, designed to give dental professionals the space to pause, recharge and take away practical tools to ease daily stress, protect their energy and nurture resilience in clinical practice.

Why wellbeing matters in dentistry

Prioritising my wellbeing allows me to feel optimal in both mind and body on a daily basis, even while navigating the inevitable professional and personal twists and turns. It means I can start each day feeling fully energised and clear-minded, ready to bring my very best professional self to the chairside for my patients. By protecting my energy levels and consciously checking in with myself throughout the day, I can recognise when adjustments are needed to stay balanced.

This consistent practice enables me to finish long clinical days feeling far less depleted - mentally and physically - while sustaining a healthy level of resilience both personally and professionally. When we care for ourselves, we create a stronger foundation to care for others.

What you will experience in the workshop

This is not a theory-only session; it is interactive, practical and tailored for the unique pressures of dentistry. Together, we will explore tools that you can immediately weave into your day. During the session, you will get hands-on practice with:

  • Functional breathing: learn how to breathe functionally. Breathing optimally and functionally is one of the most powerful tools we have. By establishing a simple daily practice, you can calm your nervous system, reduce stress and boost your energy levels. Over time, functional breathing helps you feel more centred, improves focus, stamina, and can support both your wellbeing and performance in clinic

  • Meditation: practical, time-efficient practices to calm the mind before the day starts or to reset between patients. We will also debunk the common myths that ‘meditation isn't for me' or that it requires hours of silence or a perfectly clear mind. For dental professionals, meditation is a vital tool, as it trains focus, helps regulate stress in high-pressure clinical settings, and provides a mental reset that helps you approach each patient with clarity and composure

  • Interoception: skills to tune into your body's subtle signals so you can spot early signs of stress, fatigue or overwhelm, and take small, timely actions to protect your wellbeing before burnout sets in

  • Self-compassion: a shift away from self-criticism towards constructive reflection when things do not go perfectly. This is especially important in dentistry, where striving for precision can too easily slide into perfectionism and self-judgement

  • Gratitude practices: quick, powerful resets that help to reframe your mindset, fuel resilience, and help you reconnect to the meaning and satisfaction in your daily practice.

Why now?

We are living in what I often describe as a dysfunctional world - where fast-paced demands, digital distractions and high-pressure expectations have become the norm. For us in dentistry, this is amplified by the physical intensity of a clinical day, the emotional toll in caring for patients, and the mental focus required to deliver precision day after day. It is no wonder so many of us find ourselves running on empty, struggling with exhaustion, stress and even burnout.

As a dually qualified Functional Breath Coach, I see first-hand how something as simple yet powerful as the way we breathe directly impacts our energy, stress levels and overall wellbeing. Shallow, unconscious breathing fuels stress and fatigue, while functional breathing can restore balance, regulate the nervous system and build resilience. The good news is that it is a skill we can relearn and integrate into daily life.

Through simple but effective practices like functional breathing, reflection and mindful resets, we can begin to shift out of survival mode and into a state of clarity and calm.

My commitment - and the focus of this workshop - is about fine-tuning our instrument daily. Just as we sharpen our clinical skills and maintain our tools, we also need to maintain the most important tool of all: ourselves. Through simple but effective practices like functional breathing, reflection and mindful resets, we can begin to shift out of survival mode and into a state of clarity and calm.

When we prioritise this daily tuning, something changes. We do not just feel less stressed; we feel energised, more present and better equipped to manage the inevitable ups and downs of clinical and personal life. We can approach each patient with focus and vitality, engage more effectively in guiding positive behaviour change, and move through long clinical days with greater stamina and clarity.

The ‘Reflect & Recharge workshop' is your chance to pause and reset. It offers a space to step back from autopilot, learn evidence-based strategies, and walk away with practical tools you can use straight away. Most importantly, it's about reclaiming your energy and sustaining the joy, purpose and fulfilment that brought you into dentistry in the first place.

Practical takeaways you can use immediately

By the end of the workshop, you will have gained tools to integrate seamlessly into the rhythm/your rhythm of a busy clinical day:

  • Your am-pm reset - bookending your day with a short functional breathing exercise

  • A two-minute tune in - reset routine to calm your nervous system at the beginning of your day, or at any point through your working day

  • Daily reflection prompts - to help you recharge mentally after a busy shift

  • Practical strategies - to anchor wellbeing habits into the routines you already follow, in ways that feel natural and sustainable for you, so they truly work in your day-to-day life.