Neither. Medical field is so dominated by doctors having MBBS qualification that all other medical field are given least importance. If your aim is just to do any medical qualification then go for BDS, as it is still considered by many as better than BAMS or BHMS. However, you must know the reality of both the field.

BAMS - After doing BAMS you are allowed to practice only Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurvedic treatment are seen by most as something which you can try only if Allopathic doesn’t help. So, by its identity itself it is given low importance. BAMS and BHMS gets similar low importance in field of healthcare. Many places, Ayurveda is used primarily for rejuvenation, relaxation and wellness, thus making it a part of hospitality rather than healthcare. In most developed nations BAMS is not recognized as a medical degree and they don’t allow BAMS to practice.

What most BAMS do is that they get attached to a second grade hospitals as medical officer. They don’t make much money and the work life is not exciting. They are supposed to only follow orders of consultant. Those who open their own clinic find it tough to sustain, as patients flow is really less and the fee charged is also less. There are some who practice allopathy after doing BAMS in sub-urban and rural areas. They run risk of getting booked for doing something which is illegal. This is also unethical and may not appeal to you.

BDS - The problem with BDS is that there are just too many dentists in every corner of this country. Somehow, our country, that have not been able to fulfill healthcare personnel requirement in all other field, have churned out more than required number of dentists. The number of posts in any hospital for dentists is 1 or 2, so the jobs are just too less compared to number of candidates. So you face stiff competition. If you open your clinic same oversupply of dentist will haunt you. There are dentists who just see 3–4 patients in a month. Dentists, who have already establshed themsleves gets all patients while new entrants are deprived of patients. Many fresh dentists work in dental clinics for as less as 7000 Rs. per month. Besides the respect and importance to this field is just slightly better than BAMS/BHMS. Recently there has been one saving grace for BAMS, BDS and other medical field, and that is to get into management or public health by doing an additional MBA qualification after graduation. There are few good healthcare management programmes run by high ranked B-schools such as IIM-K, FMS, GIM, ISB etc., who specially gives preference to healthcare background people for admitting them to MBA. You can then work in capacity of manager or public health professional and would be treated and paid at par. So, if you are confused between BDS/BAMS, I suggest avoid both and try for MBBS next year. In case you don’t want to wait, go for BDS with an aim to further pursue public health, healthcare management or hospital management from a reputed institution.