Dentistry vs. pharmacy

[dentite24]

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I have decided that I would enjoy doing either pharmacy or dentistry. Money and job outlook and now the deciding factors.

For pharmacy, is this career outlook great? There are a lot of pharmacists and pre-pharm students in the country right now, will this make it more difficult to get a job? And more difficult to to get paid as high as you want?
Dentistry looks like a great career on a lot of levels; flexibility and salary in particular. However, there is a lot of debt that you must pay before you even think about making money. First, most dental schools are longer and more expensive than most pharm schools. From what I've seen, after 4 years of undergrad, and 4 years of dental schools my debt could be as high as $300,000 in loans. While, a six-year pharmacy school looks like only about as high as $200,000 in loans (not to mention that I get out in the workforce two years earlier than I would if I would be a dentist, so I would be able to pay off some of debt with my salary those two years). Second, my plan is to start a practice with my brother (who's 5 years older than me) within 5 years out of dental school, this is another probably $300,000-500,000 in loans I must pay. In pharmacy my plan would be to just find a job, I wouldn't have to buy a practice, I wouldn't have that debt like in dentistry. Lastly, dentists have to buy their own health insurance (probably about $10-20,000 per year now). Pharmacists are most likely given benefits.

So, what is the better financial decision, pharmacist (less salary, less debt, questionable outlook) or dentist (higher salary, more debt, more financial responsibility)?
Also, since a lot of people saw how good of a job pharmacy was and then everyone started going into pharmacy (making too many pharmacists than needed), will the same thing happen to dentistry?

 

[68quebec]

please do your research first.

 

[fewaopi]

Ohh boy here we go again.....

Dentistry definitely. Go to the dental forums, that'll explain the outlook, it's literally night and day. You can't even compare the 2 right now. In terms of current outlook and current prospects, dentistry is way better than pharmacy. Of course dentistry has its own problems but there's no opening of dental mills that pharmacy has. The outlook for dentistry is definitely better than pharmacy. No job is great as before but dentistry is better in outlook. Dentistry also cannot be replaced by robots or technology as easily. You are a provider providing a real service, pharmacists are fighting for provider status because well, there's no real service a pharmacist actually provides.

It's good you're taking this seriously and trying to get a sense of the costs. Dental school is more loans but much higher pay, it can also be less hours/week worked and make more than pharmacists. If you can hunker down and live, eat cheap while working, you can completely pay off your loans in 2-5 years which you should do whether you are in pharmacy or dentistry. The problem then becomes finding work which I already mentioned.

In pharmacy you are dependent on someone employing you, you are at the mercy of the market and the employer. In dentistry, you're more likely to be in charge of your own fate. How you practice and how good you are will likely determine your fate. In dentistry, it's more in your hands. You're likely right about the costs (don't forget the staff, rent, equipment, etc), but pharmacists pay for their healthcare too given by employer.

No crazy schools like pharmacy saturating the market so the same # of dentists before as now and dentists making more thus having more money to actually be able to retire means more potential opportunities for dentists. The saturation in pharmacy is much less likely to happen than dentistry. The dental forums is a lot less negative than here so do more research. The ones doing pharmacy these days are more often the ones who couldn't get into dental so you'll be protected more in terms of job security. I'd be concerned more about the demand for dentists as opposed to the supply.

 

[_sonwin]

Ohh boy here we go again.....

Dentistry definitely. Go to the dental forums, that'll explain the outlook, it's literally night and day. You can't even compare the 2 right now. In terms of current outlook and current prospects, dentistry is way better than pharmacy. Of course dentistry has its own problems but there's no opening of dental mills that pharmacy has. The outlook for dentistry is definitely better than pharmacy. No job is great as before but dentistry is better in outlook. Dentistry also cannot be replaced by robots or technology as easily. You are a provider providing a real service, pharmacists are fighting for provider status because well, there's no real service a pharmacist actually provides.

It's good you're taking this seriously and trying to get a sense of the costs. Dental school is more loans but much higher pay, it can also be less hours/week worked and make more than pharmacists. If you can hunker down and live, eat cheap while working, you can completely pay off your loans in 2-5 years which you should do whether you are in pharmacy or dentistry. The problem then becomes finding work which I already mentioned.

In pharmacy you are dependent on someone employing you, you are at the mercy of the market and the employer. In dentistry, you're more likely to be in charge of your own fate. How you practice and how good you are will likely determine your fate. In dentistry, it's more in your hands. You're likely right about the costs (don't forget the staff, rent, equipment, etc), but pharmacists pay for their healthcare too given by employer.

No crazy schools like pharmacy saturating the market so the same # of dentists before as now and dentists making more thus having more money to actually be able to retire means more potential opportunities for dentists. The saturation in pharmacy is much less likely to happen than dentistry. The dental forums is a lot less negative than here so do more research. The ones doing pharmacy these days are more often the ones who couldn't get into dental so you'll be protected more in terms of job security. I'd be concerned more about the demand for dentists as opposed to the supply.

[SECTION IN BOLD] Or some people actually just want to do pharmacy? That's a thought too....

But everything else I agree with.

 

[PharmDCandidate2014]

If your answer is still pharmacy, then you need to lay off the alcohol STAT. Your welcome in advance.

 

[rederza]

Not very many people here will vouch for pharmacy, that should tell you something. Try asking this in the dental forum, in contrast I'd bet they vouch for their own.

 

[jokersmiles]

I have decided that I would enjoy doing either pharmacy or dentistry. Money and job outlook and now the deciding factors.

For pharmacy, is this career outlook great? There are a lot of pharmacists and pre-pharm students in the country right now, will this make it more difficult to get a job? And more difficult to to get paid as high as you want?
Dentistry looks like a great career on a lot of levels; flexibility and salary in particular. However, there is a lot of debt that you must pay before you even think about making money. First, most dental schools are longer and more expensive than most pharm schools. From what I've seen, after 4 years of undergrad, and 4 years of dental schools my debt could be as high as $300,000 in loans. While, a six-year pharmacy school looks like only about as high as $200,000 in loans (not to mention that I get out in the workforce two years earlier than I would if I would be a dentist, so I would be able to pay off some of debt with my salary those two years). Second, my plan is to start a practice with my brother (who's 5 years older than me) within 5 years out of dental school, this is another probably $300,000-500,000 in loans I must pay. In pharmacy my plan would be to just find a job, I wouldn't have to buy a practice, I wouldn't have that debt like in dentistry. Lastly, dentists have to buy their own health insurance (probably about $10-20,000 per year now). Pharmacists are most likely given benefits.

So, what is the better financial decision, pharmacist (less salary, less debt, questionable outlook) or dentist (higher salary, more debt, more financial responsibility)?
Also, since a lot of people saw how good of a job pharmacy was and then everyone started going into pharmacy (making too many pharmacists than needed), will the same thing happen to dentistry?

I would just like to address your last question.

The decline in job outlook for pharmacists is not likely to happen to dentistry (at least not to the same degree)

This being that anyone can do pharmacy, while you need to have talented hand skills to be a dentist.
Additionally, it is a lot more expensive to run a dental school due to all the equipment necessary to train students.
Because of this, new dental schools will not pop out left and right like pharmacy schools do.

Also, most people that pursue dentistry do it because... they enjoy working in the oral cavity, working with their hands, or also enjoy art.
While many that pursue pharmacy do it for financial reasons or because they couldn't get into med school or had a low GPA with few options.

 

[Pharmerjoe77]

I have been a pharmacist for a little over 6 years... There was doom and gloom talk once I started pharmacy school but it has gotten so much worse and continues to only get worse every year. Honestly I think pursuing pharmacy is a very poor choice. It is very expensive and time consuming for a career that has next to zero job security and most grads cannot get a full time job. The BLS only predicts 3% growth for pharmacist now, that is horrible. Compare that to dentistry. I really wish I would have done dentistry or med school. Now I'm stuck living with regret.

 

[Rukn]

Lol what sane person would pick pharmacy over dentistry??

 

[Pharmerjoe77]

Lol what sane person would pick pharmacy over dentistry??

There is no reason. Even if you're GPA is too low, do not go to pharmacy school. Cut your losses and find something else. It's a scary field threated in so many ways. The schools will tell you do a residency. Clinical pharmacy is not secure either. Become a nurse, PA, software engineer. Heck even being an uber driver will probably be better than what the near future holds for pharmacists.

 

[Rukn]

There is no reason. Even if you're GPA is too low, do not go to pharmacy school. Cut your losses and find something else. It's a scary field threated in so many ways. The schools will tell you do a residency. Clinical pharmacy is not secure either. Become a nurse, PA, software engineer. Heck even being an uber driver will probably be better than what the near future holds for pharmacists.

Clinical pharmacy is going to support the hoardes of graduates?

 

[Pharmerjoe77]

Clinical pharmacy is going to support the hoardes of graduates?

No way. That's a dying area too that will be replaced by technology. The schools and residency programs try to scam people into that route.

 

[Confused321]

its kind of scary to me

this thread and many other are posted in the "pharmacy" forum..... yet nobody is able to defend pharmacy
Like nobody is even able to give a decent argument in support of pharmacy....
Everyone in the pharmacy forum is saying... to not do pharmacy

The other forums aren't like this, they are always able to support their own respective fields.

I mean this is a forum full of pharmacists, i would think that a thread called
dentist vs pharmacist would be heavily favored for pharmacy in the PHARMACY section....

I had no idea pharmacy was in such a state....

 

[Rukn]

its kind of scary to me

this thread and many other are posted in the "pharmacy" forum..... yet nobody is able to defend pharmacy
Like nobody is even able to give a decent argument in support of pharmacy....
Everyone is the pharmacy forum is saying... to not do pharmacy

The other forums aren't like this, they are always able to support their own respective fields.
I had no idea pharmacy was in such a state....

It sucks

Just heard of another pharmacist quitting Walgreens

For

 

[Confused321]

It sucks

Just heard of another pharmacist quitting Walgreens

For

For what? and thats terrible!

 

[VeeSee]

For what? and thats terrible!

Probably for a more humane job