• Shoes

You’re on your feet all day, every day. On average a dentist goes all day long and alternate between sitting and standing.

Splurging on a high-quality pair of shoes won’t just make you look good, but it may save you some pain. Many dentists who have been practicing for years either end up with flat feet, plantar fasciitis, pain, and bunions.

• Personal technology

Do you really need an iPhone smartphone? Perhaps dermatologists and plastic surgeons who are determined to show each and every small mole or scar, what about a dentist? You can do with a looking to showcase their latest work would benefit from its impressive camera, but the rest of our readers can likely save some cash to get by with an older model. It’s time to upgrade when your outdated phone, or other personal technology, is slowing you down. Maybe apps, your camera, or screen refreshes aren’t loading as fast as they used to.

The reasoning is simple. Your time is money. Any time spent waiting for pages to load, programs to run, or applications to quit is time and money lost. If your personal technology is broken or lagging, it’s time to fix it.

• Work clothes

It helps to look the part, patients have definitive preferences for how their doctors dress. Wearing a decent pair of dress, some makeup (referring to the ladies here ).

If your job allows it, you might want to stock up on formal attire, pairing it with white coats. This combination is the patient favorite. Forgetting to wear a fresh-smelling duo or mild perfume sometimes makes your patients cringe, if you are working this close to the patients, your personal hygiene matters.

• Continuing Dental Education

It pays to stay at the top of your field. There’s no better way to stay in demand as a doctor than to continue expanding your knowledge and skills. Yes, your employer and your state medical board likely require you to complete a Continuing Dental Education (CDE). You can look at it as checking the box, or you can look at it as a growth opportunity. Surgeons can master new skills, such as the use of lasers in the operating room.

• Investment In yourself

Health is wealth. At the very least, if you’re not healthy and feeling well, it becomes harder to make money. What does this look like for a busy dentist? Investing in yourself should be your top priority because it is YOU with whom you spend most of your time. Being in a noble profession, It is your duty to take care of yourself before taking care of others. Imagine being sick with the flu with an IOPA-R in your hand which clearly shows how much better of a work you could have done instead of the substitute doctor. It might mean, not just getting the gym membership, but also splurging on the personal trainer for an added level of expertise and accountability. It could be that once a month, you book a therapeutic massage session to ease the aches and pains of days spent on your feet. Or, it could take the form of working with a counselor or other mental health clinician to create healthier ways of coping with the stress of being a physician. Take care of yourself so that you can take better care of others.

• Quality nutrition

You wouldn’t put kerosene in your car just because it’s a fuel, so why are you putting food with little to no nutritional value in your body? It’s crazy, but it takes time and money to eat well. A time comes in the form of planning what you want to cook, sourcing quality ingredients, and then preparing the food. And of course, quality, organic ingredients are costlier. If you’re so busy that lunch or dinner often looks like pizza, and apps like tomato, twiggy and Uber eats. Think again before you splurge on that extra cheese pizza.

• Services

In keeping with meal prep services, there are other things that you can, and should, outsource. Money won’t buy you happiness – unless you’re using it to buy time. Your time outside of work is finite. Do you really want to spend it running to and from the cleaners, scrubbing your toilets, purchasing new clothes, or fixing your home?

Maybe you truly enjoy doing some of these things. If that’s the case, then don’t stop doing them. But if you loathe them, put your money to work by outsourcing them.

• Insurance

If you become disabled due to an accident or injury, you can’t make money. Your ability to practice dentistry is your largest asset. Splurging on protection for that asset is a must.

Disability Insurance should be high on the financial priority list for doctors, including 1) Setting a budget 2) Building an emergency fund and 3) Paying down student loan debt. Once you’ve taken care of those first three priorities, familiarize yourself with our disability insurance guide. Be thorough before you take insurance.

• A good mattress

A third of your life will likely be spent sleeping. Let’s break that down. The average life expectancy in the USA now stands at 78.6. That means you’ll likely sleep for a staggering 26 years!

Research continues to show how inexorable sleep is to overall health. Studies have shown that sleep loss is linked to hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. Despite this, people are sleeping about 1.5 fewer hours than they were a century ago. Investing in quality sleep by purchasing a good mattress might just be one of the most health-conscious moves you can make for yourself.

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