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Personal Wellbeing

The Danger of Overthinking

Given the academic nature of the dental profession, it’s hardly surprising that dentists tend to be obsessed with thinking. After all, as highly trained healthcare practitioners in a complex discipline, a large part of the job is thinking.

But what happens when thinking becomes habitual? When the brain becomes so used to being incessantly focussed on the task at hand that it loses the ability to switch off. Is non-stop thinking really what’s best for our wellbeing and our effectiveness on the job?

“When we don’t give the brain a break, we get frustrated easily,” says Dr. Safa. “We get overwhelmed and exhaust ourselves. Then when we do need to think and focus our attention on something, we don’t have the energy.”


In this edition of Oasis Five Live, Dr. Sally Safa, a periodontist from Toronto and founder of mindfuldentist.ca, explains to Dr. John O’Keefe, Director of Knowledge Networks CDA, that thinking too much can create a negative brain loop or habit that actually does more harm than good. She walks through the phenomenon she calls “overthinking”, and offers insightful tips on how to increase awareness and quiet the constant chatter of unproductive thought that can so easily cloud our focus.

We hope you find the conversation useful. We welcome your thoughts, questions and/or suggestions about this post and other topics. Leave a comment in the box below or send us your feedback by email.

Until next time!
CDA Oasis Team

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