Again, dentistry is where pharmacy was 10-15 years ago. There are currently no horrendous working conditions in dentistry, and everyone will continue to tout the "working for all the corporations won't be that bad and it's only a $50k paycut and you work normal full-time hours" nonsense. This has happened time and time again in virtually all industries over the past 40 years. Corporates use economies of scale and predatory pricing to grow and then monopolize their industry. Once they control most of the insdustry/labor market, they can reduce working conditions to impossible (and often illegal) levels. Think Walmart and CVS. When is the last time you shopped at a privately mom and pop owned grocery store? They all went out of business? Other industries including pharmacy have taken their turn. Why are independent pharmacies going out of business to the point of extinction? Because the corporate powers that be (CVS, health insurers) have decided to monopolize the market, literally force customers to use other pharmacies whether they like to or not and then just stop paying the pharmacies or just make up reasons to not reimburse them and take their money back. Walmart and CVS have the most prevalent wage theft labor lawsuits in the country. Do a google search to learn how common it is for Fortune 500 companies to literally just steal wages from their employees. Heck, most of them were forced to sign arbitration agreements so they can't even get wages from class-action lawsuits and so most don't even get their stolen wages back and the lawsuits are a small price to pay for what the company saves.
In dentistry, it will be the same. Older dentists set to retire will stand by and do nothing because they've already made millions and are content selling/closing down within 10 years. Corporates will continue to grow and snatch up all the new graduates with $300k+ in debt. Everyone will say "it's not that bad making $120k a year for 40 hours of work to pay off your student loans {foced labor)." Then the independent dentists will shut down because Aetna (owned by CVS which is starting to incorporate dental services into their business model) stops reimbursing them (reimbursement has already been declining for years), and the predatory pricing and "convenience" of having multiple locations is just too much for patients. Once the industry is owned by corporate, THEN AND ONLY THEN (not now) they'll have free license to start reducing salaries, benefits cutting hours and working conditions. Just like with pharmacy, they'll lay off a bunch of staff and then tell the remaining dentists to work hours past the end of their shift for declining wages. Every aspect of working as a dentist will get worse. Just ask a pharmacist how this has worked out. The profession has already been "retailified" with consumers preferring dental offices in shopping centers close to where they do their errands.
I know all this because I am a pharmacist who has shadowed extensively many dental offices, have done tons of research on the debt, corporate growth, salaries, etc of the industry. I strongly considered going back to school to become a dentist, but the costs after you're 25 and the likelihood of the profession's decline over your career don't make it a feasible decision. Dentists see the world from the perspective of someone who went to school and was very much rewarded for their huge investment. They have not seen the world as it is in most other professions and don't understand. Everyone lives in their little bubble. I have seen the world of dentistry, pharmacy and others, I have an MBA and I can see the trend in dentistry is heading the same route as elsewhere. You have been warned.