You Gave Everything to Your Patients. What's Left for Your Family?

You give your best to every patient in the chair. So what is left for the people waiting for you at home?

In Episode 114 of The Authentic Dentist, Dr. Allison House and Shawn Zajas take on the question most dentists carry quietly on the drive home. Dentistry trains you to switch off your own needs the moment you walk into the operatory: no food, no water, no break, only the patient in front of you. It makes for great dentistry. But when you have given everything at work, what is left for your family?

EPISODE OVERVIEW

Dr. House has practiced for more than 24 years and still loves the work. She is also honest that sustainable and healthy are two different things. She shares the 80% rule she credits to Bear Bryant, why she picks two patients every morning to truly connect with, the workout that bridges her office and her home, and the "30% phone call" from Brené Brown that she and her husband use to check in before they walk through the door.

Shawn gets personal about ambition: bringing his drive home instead of spending all of it at work, misreading his wife Kellie when she is still in work mode, and not wanting to look back on a decade spent building something at the cost of the people he loves. The conversation lands with an 87-year-old patient who talks about his wife and his great-granddaughter, and not once about the business he built.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Why giving 100% at work every day costs you at home, and what the 80% rule looks like in a dental practice
• Two intentional connections a day to protect the human side of patient care
• Building a bridge between the office and home so your family gets you, not what is left of you
• The "30% phone call": tell your partner how much you have left before you walk in the door
• Ambition without regret, and what an 87-year-old patient taught us about legacy

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Dr. Allison House leads House Dental in Phoenix, Arizona, where she practices comprehensive, diagnostic-first dentistry for complex cases. Shawn Zajas helps people find what is truest in them and then build it; he hosts Wholehearted with Shawn Zajas and helps founders turn their podcast into a marketing engine. Learn more at shawnzajas.com.