Dental vs Pharmacist?

Started by kadeking
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dentist job pharmacist saturation
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kadeking

kadeking

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5+ Year Member
I am choosing between dentistry and pharmacy. My gpa is around 3.4. What are the advantages of both? Pharmacy seems like an easier job which is something im looking for, although I hear the market is becoming saturated. On the other hand, dentists have the highest suicide rate, so that job does not seem ideal. Dentists make more money than pharmacists on average though.

Which profession should I choose and why? Will the job market for pharmacy improve in the next 4 years?
 
Age old question, I'm sure there are a plethora of threads if you use the search function.

Shadow both and see what you like best. Markets are saturated for both, both make >$100k, schooling for both are getting ridiculously expensive.

Places/People to shadow to have a good idea of what the day-to-day looks like:
Pharmacy - retail (ie drug stores like CVS, Walgreens), hospital, compounding pharmacy
Dentistry - solo practice, corporate practice, specialists
 
kadeking said:
I am choosing between dentistry and pharmacy. My gpa is around 3.4. What are the advantages of both? Pharmacy seems like an easier job which is something im looking for, although I hear the market is becoming saturated. On the other hand, dentists have the highest suicide rate, so that job does not seem ideal. Dentists make more money than pharmacists on average though.

Which profession should I choose and why? Will the job market for pharmacy improve in the next 4 years?
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If money and time are the deciding factors, go with dentistry. You'll make way more as a dentist than you'll ever make as a pharmacist. That suicide rumor is just a rumor. I think that was from a survey 1 or 2 decades ago, but not anymore. Even though both can make >100k, you can't make 500k+ with being a pharmacist, even 200k is hard... but you can with being a dentist.

Pharmacist suffers from a much larger oversupply, and pay stagnation (adjusted for inflation, you're stuck at your pay rate). Even if you get the pay that you're promised, getting your full time hours is the difficult part.
 
kadeking said:
I am choosing between dentistry and pharmacy. My gpa is around 3.4. What are the advantages of both? Pharmacy seems like an easier job which is something im looking for, although I hear the market is becoming saturated. On the other hand, dentists have the highest suicide rate, so that job does not seem ideal. Dentists make more money than pharmacists on average though.

Which profession should I choose and why? Will the job market for pharmacy improve in the next 4 years?
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Do Pharm. We're full in dental.
 
Hannah Banana said:
Do Pharm. We're full in dental.
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Pharm is even fuller. Computer science still has plenty of room. It offers one of the best job markets, makes the best return on investment for your education, and offers the best quality of life. You can earn $100k+ straight out of undergrad and have 5 job offers thrown at you before graduation without having to take out $200k+ in loans and lose 4+ years of wages.
 
PharmtoCS said:
Pharm is even fuller. Computer science still has plenty of room. It offers one of the best job markets, makes the best return on investment for your education, and offers the best quality of life. You can earn $100k+ straight out of undergrad and have 5 job offers thrown at you before graduation without having to take out $200k+ in loans and lose 4+ years of wages.
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Lol. Computer science is the next field to go down the pipes. Everyone and their mother is going that route and soon enough what is stopping companies for laying you off? They can easily outsource to places like India for cheap foreign labor
 
The other day I was at Walmart pharmacy and was watching the pharmacist interact with this lady. "Do you have any questions for me?" he asked as he handed over the drugs. The customer responded, "can I just pay for this stuff here?" I could see the pure devastation on the pharmacist's face as he scanned the Kit Kats and the cans of Campbell.
I honestly felt sorry for him. Here was a man who spent years studying pharmacology, chemistry and other advanced science courses, only to end up as a cashier for some retail store. I am so happy I didn't go into pharmacy.
 
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iono101 said:
The other day I was at Walmart pharmacy and was watching the pharmacist interact with this lady. "Do you have any questions for me?" he asked as he handed over the drugs. The customer responded, "can I just pay for this stuff here?" I could see the pure devastation on the pharmacist's face as he scanned the Kit Kats and the cans of Campbell.
I honestly felt sorry for him. Here was a man who spent years studying pharmacology, chemistry and other advanced science courses, only to end up as a cashier for some retail store. I am so happy I didn't go into pharmacy.
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I wouldn't be so sure.
There's a DT thread right now talking about walmart dentistry
 
distressstudent said:
I wouldn't be so sure.
There's a DT thread right now talking about walmart dentistry
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I personally don't believe that dental clinics will end up in Walmart. I feel the surgical nature of the field will make it less than ideal to set up operation in a grocery store. However even if we do end up in Walmart, the dentist will never be at a cash register scanning groceries. Dentistry is procedure based, not retail.
 
iono101 said:
The other day I was at Walmart pharmacy and was watching the pharmacist interact with this lady. "Do you have any questions for me?" he asked as he handed over the drugs. The customer responded, "can I just pay for this stuff here?" I could see the pure devastation on the pharmacist's face as he scanned the Kit Kats and the cans of Campbell.
I honestly felt sorry for him. Here was a man who spent years studying pharmacology, chemistry and other advanced science courses, only to end up as a cashier for some retail store. I am so happy I didn't go into pharmacy.
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I also don't think this is a very fair statement or anecdote. My wife is a pharmacist and I will tell you that the same way dentists rarely walk someone out after a procedure (although I know a good amount of dentists who will after a new patient exam to be more personal on their first experience), pharmacist hardly ever do the checking out, the techs do that (not to mention if you do a residency and become a clinical pharmacist, you would never even have a register... although you would get paid less for some reason). They are usually in the back either filling or verifying prescriptions. The only time a pharmacist would check someone out would be if the prescription is new to the person and they are counseling them on its uses and answering their questions (such as in this story). So it does happen, but I wouldn't use that as a reason not to do it. Every profession has crap like that. Even dentistry. I could parallel that story to a dentist getting all excited about presenting a treatment plan to a new patient and when they ask if the patient has any questions, the first thing out of the patient's mouth is "how much is this going to cost?" Or "what is my insurance going to pay?" I would have the same look of disappointment. I've also heard people say they were sorry for dentists because we look in gross mouths all day. It's all about what you are interested in. I am more interested in teeth and helping people in that way. My wife is more interested in pharm and helping people in that way.
 
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Been a pharmacy tech in both retail and hospital for many years. Retail with a drive through can be soul sucking work. It's 96% verification(meaning that the script matches the computer that matches the pills) that any idiot can do off the street, in which your only qualifications are: can you read? does the picture of this pill on the computer screen look like the pills in the bottle? If yes to both answers then the Rx is good and you send it off. The other 4%(being generous) work consists of answering phones and mostly very base questions that most seasoned techs can answer. You use your education about 1-2% of the time while the techs do most of your job. Great pay, great as a side job for extra work. If you go retail, go someplace without a drive through.

Hospital setting is where it's at. Most pharmacists do verification of tech work and doctors orders, it's mostly simple, but your knowledge base and experience expand significantly and it's nice to watch them call up the doctors and tell them where they're wrong and what to change. That's what they were educated for. Good hours, less stress, wonderful people, not so great pay but many have side hours in retail. Clinical Pharmacists are probably the best jobs around in the pharmacy world. They're right up on the floors educating and challenging the doctors and nurse practitioners. They participate in codes, treatment, almost the whole process. Not the best pay but better than verification, probably not as good as retail in terms of salary. But the hours are normal, not 12 hour shifts like almost all pharmacy positions.

Pharmacy can be a great career, but dentistry is for me.
 
distressstudent said:
Why the scarcasm?
I am not saying it's true because DT is talking about it. I am staying it's on DT if you want to read about it.

Be my guest if you choose to be ignorant. No skin off my back.
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Yikes didn't know a little sarcasm was taken so negatively here. I've been a member of dentaltown for 4 years now... I guess I was just making the point that a lot of dental town should be taken with a grain of salt. Especially Walmart dentistry. Plus we already basically have that with some corporate models.
 
I was lucky or unlucky enough to do both pharmacy/dentistry and have worked in both. Both are rewarding fields, but are very different. As a dentist you will have more control of your schedule, lifestyle, and dentistry offers more variation due to the option of specializing. I ended up going into a specialty and am happy with that decision. I have classmates from pharmacy school that work in retail, industry, and hospital. They seem happy with their choice, but some tell me they wish they had done something else. Grass will always be greener on the other side of the fence.
 
These two professions are nothing alike. If you honestly gave it any amount of thought of what you would be happy doing for 40 or so hours a week (rather than putting value in things like made up suicide rates) you would easily find your answer.
 
Muggsy Bogues said:
These two professions are nothing alike. If you honestly gave it any amount of thought of what you would be happy doing for 40 or so hours a week (rather than putting value in things like made up suicide rates) you would easily find your answer.
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Absolutely this.

It's like asking if someone should be a HVAC technician or a teacher.
 
Alpha Centauri said:
Lol. Computer science is the next field to go down the pipes. Everyone and their mother is going that route and soon enough what is stopping companies for laying you off? They can easily outsource to places like India for cheap foreign labor
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Computer science is in very high demand right now. Everyone was worried about outsourcing in the mid 2000s, but the job market is roaring once again.

You don't even need a degree to become a computer programmer. If you end up unemployed or hating your field of work, you can move on much more easily when you've spent only $10k and 4 months on a coding bootcamp as opposed to $200-500k and 4+ years on dental or pharmacy school. In this sense, computer programming is much less risky and a much better return on investment.
 
PharmtoCS said:
Computer science is in very high demand right now. Everyone was worried about outsourcing in the mid 2000s, but the job market is roaring once again.

You don't even need a degree to become a computer programmer. If you end up unemployed or hating your field of work, you can move on much more easily when you've spent only $10k and 4 months on a coding bootcamp as opposed to $200-500k and 4+ years on dental or pharmacy school. In this sense, computer programming is much less risky and a much better return on investment.
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Oh please. A 4 month "bootcamp" won't make you qualified for anything worth your breath if you have some sense of respect. You will be easily replaced by one of millions of people who can go through the same bootcamp and are willing to work harder longer hours with lower pay
 
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