dental or pharmacy?Please help

[bruinlovejake]

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Hi i am a second year in college. I both work as a pharmacy technician and dental assistance. I love both fields. I only have one more year to decide which route i should take. To tell you the truth, it is really hard decision for me since i think i love both. I ask the predent forum they told me just go with your heart.
Can you tell me why i should pick pharmacy over dental? Do pharmacist make more money than dentist? and do pharmacist have more privilege than dentist?
P.S. PLEASE DO NOT FLAME ME. I ask those questions because i always got different answer and i truly love both field.

 

[veyep]

their salaries depend on the location, how active you are and if you own your own office and pharmacy.


generally pharmacist make around $100,000/year
and dentist make around $200,000/year as what I have always heard.

However I know a dentist who makes over $140,000/month but he is very well known and stablished and he is in his late 40s.

but according to payscale.com

Median Salary by Years Experience - Job: Dentist (United States)

 

[veyep]

I personally don't like dentistry field because nobody likes to go to dentist and emotionally it effects you, you are always looking into people's mouth which gives you pain in you back and neck area. It is not a clean job, stressful, must have good hands which I don't. +high suicide rates between dentists.

on the other hand pharmacist have exactly opposite life. Everybody wants to go to them to get rid of the pain and it is clean and not as stressfull etc....

 

[veyep]

eventhough you might be my and my sisters' competition and I should tell you go to dentistry, but I am not going to lie I prefer pharmacy 🙂

 

[jonnyboi303]

i think as a dentist you can have more flexible hours, better pay, etc. so if you're down with reaching into people's nasty mouths all day, more power to you

 

[UncertainRx]

Dentists make a little more it seems but like someone said, its not clean. Mouths/teeth all day? No thx.

 

[sanfranalaska]

The whole dentists have a high suicide rate is a myth. I would choose denistry if you feel that you could run a successful business/practice. Most of the time a pharmacist doesn't own the pharmacy, so it's one less thing to worry about. However as a dentist you can make more money and be in control of how your business is run if you own it. I have zero interest in owning a business and enjoy chemistry a lot, that is why I chose pharmacy. Dentistry does have a creative side to it though, which is neat.

 

[Pharmpills]

both are stressful and pay well. dentistry tend to pay a little better though. u could work ur *** off and retire early as a dentist or open ur own pharmacy and retire too lol

 

[k1451372]

sounds like you are leaning towards pharmacy. Worst case scenerio, you go to pharm school and dont like it then try dental school or you love it and made the right decision. At least they both need good science background and you dont have to change your major.

 

[mochiko]

I could never be a dentist. Can't imagine looking into people's mouths for the rest of my life... add to that the fact that people hate coming in to see you and will forever associate you with pain.

Both fields will give you flexibility with your time and will allow you to live comfortably (although dentists usually make a little more). You have experience in and enjoy both fields, so I guess it all comes down to what kind of work you would prefer to do. As a dentist you would be spending more of your time working directly on patients with physical procedures in the office. As a pharmacist, you work more with dispensing drugs, consulting patients, and fixing all the doctors' mistakes.

Have you tried talking to the dentists and pharmacists you work with? Asking them about why they chose their careers, their experiences, and their lifestyles may help you make a better decision in which way to go...

 

[Scrubs Fan]

i think dentistry makes more than pharmacists, but it depends on your patient load. There's more to dentistry than cleaning, there are implants, dentures, veneers, etc.

your end result as a dentist, you can end up w/ your own practice. so if that appeals t you, then by all means

pharmacy, there are many fields, but unless you're considering opening your own pharmacy, you'll be working for someone else.

 

[bruinlovejake]

Here is the observation that i have when i work at both:
It seemed that dentist is stress out so much more than pharmacist. My boss work from 8:30 to 6. It seem to me that she has incompetence staff. She is also really cheap in hiring staff as in she does not hiring a real dental assistance, she hired someone that had no experience so that she can pay them less money (of course she had to train them).
I never seen her happy. She is always happy with her patients. But she just keep yelling at her staff
I don't know if she is unhappy because of her career or she is just so unorganized. I'm afraid to ask😳
Pharmacist on the other hand are always happy. But this guy told me that in 10 more years people can invent a robot can do what a pharmacist do. That really scares me off!!!!

 

[phuang06]

But this guy told me that in 10 more years people can invent a robot can do what a pharmacist do. That really scares me off!!!!

If that were true, then they would first invent robots to do much simpler jobs, and since we, as a nation is based on the middle class jobs, it would be hard to have robots replace lower class and middle class workers, since a lot of people would be displaced. It's not probable.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Do pharmacy and dentistry. You could work as a pharmacist on the weekends or holiday breaks while you're in dental school.
It would be expensive to do both, but you would always have a back-up that you enjoy.

 

[Jennyollio]

For me I have been one confused person. I started off wanting to go into medicine then decided I wasn't willing to make all the sacrifices that come with it. So I ended up applying to pharmacy schools and got in, but constantly questioned myself whether I would be satisfied. I worried that what I really wanted was more patient care and more hands on work.

I just started shadowing some dentists and I found it really interesting. I think dentistry is great if you want to do hands on work. For me I also like that there is a great chance of me being my own boss one day, not to mention that the dentists I've been working with seem to be genuinely happy and enjoy what they do. Pretty much every pharmacist I have spoken to though also loves their job so I think you really need to weigh what it is you want out of your career and then examine which field meets those desires better. Good luck!

 

[Nerdgirl]

With that kind of money, you should go into dentistry!!!
You can also get a chance to clean your parent's teeth and sibling's teeth too. How fun!!! 😀

 

[ScarlettDarke]

Pharmacist on the other hand are always happy. But this guy told me that in 10 more years people can invent a robot can do what a pharmacist do. That really scares me off!!!!

I wouldn't worry about this. It may be true we can invent a robot to do this, but like phuang said^^ it wouldn't be realistic to use them. Pharmacists aren't machines that only count pills and send them off, they also have to interact w/ppl in a way that would be hard for robots to do. eg. patient consultation, working w/doctors and nurses, etc...

 

[cystapharm]

you get to be called Dr. if you go into Dentistry! lol

 

[ScarlettDarke]

Dentistry and Pharmacy both offer lots of diverse + great options

With dentistry, you can specialize (eg. orthodontics, endodontics) so you wouldn't have to do just basic procedures like cleaning and checkups. Plus you can make even more money if you go this route.

With pharmacy, you also have the opportunity to make more than the avg pharmacist by moving up the corporate ladder (eg becoming DM in retail, or management in pharmaceutical companies).

I chose pharmacy bc I never wanted to look at ppl's teeth. Plus I didn't want the responsibility of managing my own practice, doing the bookkeeping, and building a patient base (also what turned me off from optometry). I also thought that if I missed patient contact, I could do a residency where I would be more involved in patient care. Annnnd if I ever got bored of working in retail/hospital i could always switch to something different like pharm sales 🙂

I think you should look at what you may want to do in the long-term and consider which career path would give you the most access to those goals. GOOD LUCK!! 🙂