So I'm at a crossroads...

[tendram]

I am having the same problem countless others have had and this is not the first time for me either. I have been bouncing back and forth between pharmacy and dental school for a while now and I just need a little push in one direction or the other. So, instead of typing up a doctoral thesis on the subject I'll just make it short and sweet: from what I have seen dental school costs a bit more than pharmacy school and I really don't want to be stuck paying back school loans for 30 or so years for dental school. That and I really have no desire to start my own business but I think if it came down to it I could manage it. I have shadowed one dentist so far and really liked it and pretty much had my mind made up after leaving I wanted to go to dental school. So pretty much I like dentistry but the two reasons above are whats making me so reluctant to go into dental school. If anyone has any advice or input on the matter I'd greatly appreciate it.

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[ballsin2win]

Go to pharmacy school. Dental school is not for pansies.

 

[FutureDent020]

Go to pharmacy school. Dental school is not for pansies.

haha

 

[newyorkblork]

dental school costs a bit more than pharmacy school and I really don't want to be stuck paying back school loans for 30 or so years for dental school.

I really have no desire to start my own business but I think if it came down to it I could manage it.

I have shadowed one dentist so far and really liked it and pretty much had my mind made up after leaving I wanted to go to dental school. So pretty much I like dentistry but the two reasons above are whats making me so reluctant to go into dental school. If anyone has any advice or input on the matter I'd greatly appreciate it.

Well. Right now it sounds like you should go to pharmacy school; it will give you a faster road to employment , rather than a longer, more expensive road to business ownership.

If you don't mind me asking, what factors went into you "pretty much making up your mind" about dental school?

 

[PaulieGualtieri]

BOOOOO!!! Don't listen to these guys. You should be a dentist for the coolness factor alone. If you really enjoyed shadowing your dentist, think how much more meaningful it would be if you are the one actually performing those procedures and personally changing your patients' lives. So what if it costs a little more, in the long run I think you'll be better off both financially and feeling more accomplished.

 

[anschutz1913]

Just decide if you want to stack pills or stack dollar bills? Personally, im all for working for myself, and not at a walgreens. but all my pharm buddies have good stories tho!!!

 

[pharmd4lyfe]

dude screw you. we dont want your kind in pharmacy. the kind that fricking uses pharmacy as a back up because its an "easier" route or because you make money faster. why dont you go and shadow a pharmacist and see what its really like, because for sure its NOT easy nor is it for pansies.

 

[Vicviper]

I'll just say that Pharmacy isn't for everyone, just as Dentistry isn't for everyone. One's not better than the other for everyone, it really depends on you. I personally don't think I'm cut out to be a Pharmacist, I just don't think I'd like it very much, but I've got friends who love it.

Either way you'll make plenty of money, and while you'll have more loans from dental school, you'll be able to pay them off. Do what you enjoy, and what you're truly inspired to do. Plus, it doesn't sound like you know too much about pharmacy. Hell, go shadow a Pharmacist or two, you might actually it.

Oh, and not all dentists own their own practice, so it's not like that's required.

 

[tendram]

Maybe the short and sweet route wasn't the best way to go, I left alot of stuff out that may be important. I am a CPhT and work with pharmacists all day so I know that side pretty well.

If you don't mind me asking, what factors went into you "pretty much making up your mind" about dental school?

Well it all started with a root canal video I saw on youtube. After watching that, which is possibly the coolest dental procedures I have ever seen btw, I decided maybe dentistry was right for me. And idk really after shadowing the dentist his job just seemed alot more in depth than a pharmacist and I like that. Plus I like working with my hands and sculpting/building models etc. so I figure I would do pretty well in that aspect as well, especially if i went into cosmetic dentistry.

dude screw you. we dont want your kind in pharmacy. the kind that fricking uses pharmacy as a back up because its an "easier" route or because you make money faster. why dont you go and shadow a pharmacist and see what its really like, because for sure its NOT easy nor is it for pansies.

Hey I have nothing against pharmacy, Like I said I'm a CPhT and I love it. But I have a family member who went into pharmacy which is why I got into it and I just want to make sure I'm making the right career choice. Pharmacy isn't a backup for me but I kinda rushed into it and dont really want to say "yes pharmacy is right for me" when I haven't really explored any other options. Plus I have had one pharmacist tell me to my face that they wished that they hadn't gone to pharmacy school and I read in a magazine that alot of pharmacists are unhappy with their career. While I like the feild now, when I'm the actual pharmacist doing it for a living idk if it will be the same. Then again I can say the same thing about dentistry.

 

[PaulieGualtieri]

Dentistry

 

[newyorkblork]

Hey I have nothing against pharmacy, Like I said I'm a CPhT and I love it. But I have a family member who went into pharmacy which is why I got into it and I just want to make sure I'm making the right career choice. Pharmacy isn't a backup for me but I kinda rushed into it and dont really want to say "yes pharmacy is right for me" when I haven't really explored any other options. Plus I have had >one< pharmacist tell me to my face that they wished that they hadn't gone to pharmacy school and I read in a magazine that alot of pharmacists are unhappy with their career. While I like the field now, when I'm the actual pharmacist doing it for a living idk if it will be the same. Then again I can say the same thing about dentistry.

You can say the same thing about everything. You'll never know until you're there. We're all just making educated guesses. From what you've written here, though, it sounds like you may need to better inform your guess for yourself

I think this boils down to what you want out of your career. Why are these pharmacists unhappy with their careers? What makes you think there are no unhappy dentists? How many pharmacists and dentists have you talked to personally about exactly what it is that makes them happy or unhappy?

I switched out of medicine because I had several doctors discouraging me from going into medicine. They cited reasons from rude patients, declining independence, increasing governmental/insurance interference, exhausting labor... the list grows. Many of these points are personally relevant: I am looking for a career that offers independence, not to become a slave for ObamaCare.

If you want to 'compare notes', I'm going into Dentistry because I want a flexible career that will give me a skill set that I can take around with me. From Dentistry, I can choose to go into Research, Teaching, Community Service, and Private Practice, all while working on something I love doing: fixing things with my hands. The 'immediate' nature of Dentistry, that is, "patient walks in broken... patient walks out fixed" (in many cases, anyway), appeals to me a lot. I like the idea of being a "tooth mechanic", and if I do get bored or arthritic, there are the aforementioned "outs" that I also love.

I honestly don't know what kind of flexibility Pharmacy offers. That isn't to say it isn't there - it's just to declare my ignorance For me, Dentistry seals the deal because Pharmacists, while they are knowledgeable professionals, aren't fixing things. So far as I can tell, there's none of the immediate gratification of repairing a living entity, nor of having a Skill (meaning a hand skill, I'm not saying Pharmacists are "unskilled labor") that people can't take away from you. That said, I'm sure there are reasons people have for choosing Pharmacy. You should work on finding those out.

So... TL;DR version? Lots of things to consider, foremost among them, what do you want out of your 30-odd years of working life?

 

[DentalTrain]

dental pharmacy is the way. You can start up a business wheeling and dealing local anesthetics on the black market.

 

[farfromhome]

I agree with some of the other suggestions that you may want to do a little more research on some dental options. Maybe try to find some dentists that don't own their own practices, or check out some group practices. I know companies like Monarch Dental offer long term contracts in many states to provide administration services to a group of dentists, so it takes a lot of the business out of the dentist's hands. I haven't always heard the most positive feedback about companies like these, but I suppose it is still an option if you're that averse to being a business owner.
Although I don't know numbers, I would imagine that if you worked as an associate dentist under someone else, that you wouldn't take home as much money at the end of the day. So if financials and student loans are a big factor, then I think you need to assess your comfort level of owning a business vs taking a little longer to pay off your debt. There are plenty of dentists who are not well-versed in business and still seem to make it work. Ask the staff at some of these offices.
And like newyorkblork said, there are a ton of other options in dentistry. You don't necessarily have to be in private practice for the entirety of your career. But there is also more to dentistry that what you see on a youtube video.
At the end of the day, you still have to show up and work for a big portion of your life, so you might as well pick something that you don't hate. Sounds like pharmacy doesn't wow you. If you find that you like dentistry that well, you might just need to put down your teddy bear and commit to it.

 

[erichen]

So...i'm going to dental school and my roommate is going to pharmacy school...and my sister is in LLU pharm school

In general...

Dentistry:
1)Higher GPA needed
2)DAT is non-negotiable
3)less coursework requirements
4)D-school is much more expensive
5)Fewer holiday breaks
6)More hands on work
7)More residency options
8)More demand for dental rather than pharm students in health mission work (highly rewarding in that respect)
9)Complexity and variety of cases varies
10) More up-in-your-area type of healthcare
11)strenuous on your back as a clinician (dentist I shadowed said people usually stop being clinicians after practicing ~20 years, and then they cut back on their patients and slow down their practice)
12)adjunct professor positions are abundant after private practice

Pharmacy:
1)Lower GPA needed
2)PCAT is negotiable given you apply to Cali Schools
3)MORE coursework requirements (speech, econ, a whole slew of chem)
4)P-School is cheaper
5)More holiday breaks
6)REQUIRED WORK DURING PHARM SCHOOL (My sister's chief complaint--she says that the curriculum is challenging, but working minumum of 10+ hours a week on top of that is grueling)
7)Not that hands on, but a lot of patient interaction through consultations
8)Up-and coming residencies (Sports Pharm, etc.)
9) My sister said that as an interning pharmacist, there are probably 2 or 3 types of patients that make up 80-90% of the patients she sees
10)If you work for large franchises, depending on the financial momentum of that franchise, yearly bonuses (~20,000 for rite aid) are common.

In my opinion, they are both great professions. You can't go wrong with either, in my opinion.

Not sure if you mentioned how far you are in your coursework, but if you haven't started on the pharm requirements, it's high time you get to it. At least if you do the pharm coursework, much (if not all) the dental requirements are covered. You can then take your time to decide if you want to take the DAT.

 

[tendram]

Thanks for the insight guys. I guess there are quite a few pros and cons to both but like I'm not expecting to have zero problems from any career I get into. I'd just like to be able to get into a career that I like enough to put up with all the crap that comes along with it. I plan on making some more appointments and shadowing a few more dentists before I really make my final decision and like I said, it's not that I don't like pharmacy, I just don't want to be going into that field just because. Sure I could go into pharmacy and be happy but if there's something out there that I would be happier doing then I'd rather do that, and so far dentistry is fitting the bill.

As for schooling, I could have my AS in pre-pharm but I am a chemistry major right now trying to bring my GPA from the 2.7 it is now (just took my last final for this semester so hopefully not anymore ). I figure getting my BS in chemistry with a GPA of ~3.5 plus will look good on my transcript no matter where I go next. But if I choose pharmacy I might as well go ahead and finish up my AS in pre-pharm since its within reach.

 

[salem21]

Like any investment, the cost of dental school comes with risk. But the potential returns are phenomenal. Some dentists make their entire student loan a year after becoming established and building a practice. At the very least, earning 6 figures should be enough to pay back the loan without too much trouble. Talk to some dentists that have gone through the process of paying back loans to determine if its right for you or not. Also consider signing up for the Armed Forces and getting school paid for. I think its 3 or 4 years of service in return for tuition and possibly spending money.

 

[tendram]

Like any investment, the cost of dental school comes with risk. But the potential returns are phenomenal. Some dentists make their entire student loan a year after becoming established and building a practice. At the very least, earning 6 figures should be enough to pay back the loan without too much trouble. Talk to some dentists that have gone through the process of paying back loans to determine if its right for you or not. Also consider signing up for the Armed Forces and getting school paid for. I think its 3 or 4 years of service in return for tuition and possibly spending money.

True, and I'd like to think I could pay my loans off in a pretty short amount of time (<10 years if possible) by saving here and there and living below my means. But really there's no guarantee of making 6 figures right out of school so it may take a couple more years than I'd like. I think I'm going to take your advice and ask some dentists about it, that might help me a bit more than looking for answers in a pre-dent forum . The army is not a bad option wither, tho I'd like to stay out of war as long as I can haha

 

[dmd87]

i was speaking to my fam friend who is a pharmacist a few weeks back. essentially he said that pharmacy is getting really saturated, whereas dentistry there is going to be a big shortage in the future. seats in dentistry have remained relatively stagnant since the 1980s, and although there are new dental schools opening up, the demand is quite large. dental school does cost more hands down, but i think with the pharm market becoming saturated, dentistry might be a better bet. but also keep in mind that dentistry is become much more difficult to get into. a few yrs back it was much easier, but it is no longer what it used to be. be prepared to study hard for the DAT, not because its overly difficult, but because you will need really high scores these days (esp w/ a low GPA).

 

[doc toothache]

http://www.hhs.gov/pharmacy/phpharm/howmany.html

 

[tendram]

i was speaking to my fam friend who is a pharmacist a few weeks back. essentially he said that pharmacy is getting really saturated, whereas dentistry there is going to be a big shortage in the future. seats in dentistry have remained relatively stagnant since the 1980s, and although there are new dental schools opening up, the demand is quite large. dental school does cost more hands down, but i think with the pharm market becoming saturated, dentistry might be a better bet. but also keep in mind that dentistry is become much more difficult to get into. a few yrs back it was much easier, but it is no longer what it used to be. be prepared to study hard for the DAT, not because its overly difficult, but because you will need really high scores these days (esp w/ a low GPA).

http://www.hhs.gov/pharmacy/phpharm/howmany.html

That's a pretty good point. It's crossed my mind before but I never really saw it as a threat I guess. Where I work there are more pharmacists than there are positions for them to stay so alot of them are "floating" around from store to store. And according to the data doc toothache posted it looks as if it's only going to stay that way. Even though dentistry is tougher to get into I think I'm probably going to stay the course for dental school and try my hardest to get in. Still, I've got two more dentists I want to shadow before I make my final decision but all in all I think I'm staying pre-dent for now. Thanks again for all the help guys

 

[golf05]

I would also suggest checking out different kinds of dental practices. Do more shadowing of dentists AND pharmacists. My dad is a dentist, but that doesn't mean that my knowledge of chairside dentistry was better than anyone else's before I shadowed other dentists. There may be things you don't know about Pharmacy if you've not been working alongside one. (Apologies if you have already shadowed a Pharmacist.)

While you're at it, do a few hours shadowing other health professions. Since you're on the fence, there may be something in another profession that helps you make up your mind or even draws you in another direction. It's OK to wait to apply until you have made up your mind. I went and got another degree and worked for 2 years in another career before I decided with certainty that I wanted to be a dentist. You definitely don't want to start the process of applying if you're not dedicated and enthusiastic about the profession!