Dental Laboratory Technician Construct and repair full or partial dentures or dental appliances.
Dental Laboratory Technician is Also Know as
In different settings, Dental Laboratory Technician is titled as
- Ceramist
- Crown and Bridge Dental Laboratory Technician (Crown and Bridge Dental Lab Tech)
- Dental Ceramist
- Dental Laboratory Technician (Dental Lab Tech)
- Dental Technician (Dental Tech)
- Denture Technician (Denture Tech)
- Metal Finisher
- Orthodontic Laboratory Technician (Ortho Lab Tech)
- Porcelain Technician (Porcelain Tech)
- Waxer
Education and Training of Dental Laboratory Technician
Dental Laboratory Technician is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Dental Laboratory Technician
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Dental Laboratory Technician
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Dental Laboratory Technician
- Bachelor in Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician
- Associate Degree Courses in Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician
- Masters Degree Courses in Dental Laboratory Technology/Technician
Training Required for Dental Laboratory Technician
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Dental Laboratory Technician in different industries are
- Medical Appliance Technicians
- Dental Assistants
- Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians
- Medical Equipment Repairers
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic
- Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians
- Furniture Finishers
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Dental Hygienists
- Prosthodontists
- Dentists, General
- Etchers and Engravers
- Orthodontists
- Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing
- Orthotists and Prosthetists
- Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
- Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Surgical Technologists
What Do Dental Laboratory Technician do?
- Read prescriptions or specifications and examine models or impressions to determine the design of dental products to be constructed.
- Fabricate, alter, or repair dental devices, such as dentures, crowns, bridges, inlays, or appliances for straightening teeth.
- Test appliances for conformance to specifications and accuracy of occlusion, using articulators and micrometers.
- Place tooth models on an apparatus that mimics bite and movement of patient's jaw to evaluate functionality of model.
- Melt metals or mix plaster, porcelain, or acrylic pastes and pour materials into molds or over frameworks to form dental prostheses or apparatuses.
- Prepare metal surfaces for bonding with porcelain to create artificial teeth, using small hand tools.
- Remove excess metal or porcelain and polish surfaces of prostheses or frameworks, using polishing machines.
- Create a model of patient's mouth by pouring plaster into a dental impression and allowing plaster to set.
- Load newly constructed teeth into porcelain furnaces to bake the porcelain onto the metal framework.
- Build and shape wax teeth, using small hand instruments and information from observations or dentists' specifications.
- Apply porcelain paste or wax over prosthesis frameworks or setups, using brushes and spatulas.
- Fill chipped or low spots in surfaces of devices, using acrylic resins.
- Prepare wax bite blocks and impression trays for use.
- Mold wax over denture setups to form the full contours of artificial gums.
- Train or supervise other dental technicians or dental laboratory bench workers.
- Rebuild or replace linings, wire sections, or missing teeth to repair dentures.
- Shape and solder wire and metal frames or bands for dental products, using soldering irons and hand tools.
Qualities of Good Dental Laboratory Technician
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Tools Used by Dental Laboratory Technician
- Acrylic cutters
- Adjustable articulators
- Air compressors
- Air scribes
- Amalgam dispensers
- Amalgam instruments
- Anatomic articulators
- Arcon articulators
- Articulators
- Auto chucks
- Build-up brushes
- Bunsen burners
- Casting torches
- Clinical scales
- Conventional lathes
- Crown holders
- Crucible formers
- Crucibles
- Culture plates
- Culture tubes
- Curette scalers
- Dental amalgamators
- Dental buffing wheels
- Dental burs
- Dental finishing stones
- Dental finishing wheels
- Dental handpieces
- Dental lab microscopes
- Dental laboratory alcohol torches
- Dental laboratory bench lathes
- Dental laboratory casting machines
- Dental laboratory centrifugal casting units
- Dental laboratory curing lights
- Dental laboratory die mold fabrication systems
- Dental laboratory dust collectors
- Dental laboratory gold platers
- Dental laboratory high-speed lathes
- Dental laboratory microblasters
- Dental laboratory model trimmers
- Dental laboratory pressure molding devices
- Dental laboratory pumice lathes
- Dental laboratory sandblasters
- Dental laboratory solderers
- Dental laboratory torches
- Dental laboratory vacuum extractors
- Dental laboratory vacuum formers
- Dental laboratory vacuum pumps
- Dental laboratory vacuum-mixing devices
- Dental laboratory wax heaters
- Dental milling machines
- Dental ovens
- Dental plaster knives
- Dental pliers
- Dental polishing brushes
- Dental polishing machines
- Dental rotary cutting equipment
- Dental surveyors
- Dental vibrators
- Dental wax carvers
- Dental wax spatuals
- Desktop computers
- Diamond burs
- Diamond wheels
- Digital cameras
- Dowel pin drills
- Electric burnout furnaces
- Electronic precision balances
- Electronically operated mallets
- Flask presses
- Glazer vacuum furnaces
- Grinding machines
- Hygrobaths
- Impression syringes
- Impression trays
- Injection flasks
- Inlay furnaces
- Laboratory beakers
- Laboratory flow meters
- Laser printers
- Light microscopes
- Matrix retainers
- Mechanical dental instrument sharpeners
- Micrometers
- Mobile mixers
- Model duster brushes
- Mortars and pestles
- Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Nd:YAG dental lasers
- Notebook computers
- Personal computers
- Pneumatic presses
- Porcelain furnaces
- Porcelain slicers
- Prophylaxis brushes
- Semiadjustable articulators
- Shade guides
- Shielded arc welding tools
- Soft brushes
- Split flasks
- Spot-welding equipment
- Steam cleaners
- Stereo microscopes
- Surgical knives
- Ultrasonic cleaners
- Water baths
- Water purification systems
Technology Skills required for Dental Laboratory Technician
- Bookkeeping software
- Computer aided design and drafting CADD software
- Computer aided design CAD software
- Computer aided manufacturing CAM software
- Computer imaging software
- Database management software
- Dental product design software
- Dental product manufacturing software
- Easy Solutions Easy Lab
- Email software
- Graphics software
- Intuit QuickBooks
- Inventory management software
- Inventrix Labtrac
- Jenmar International DL-Plus
- LabMagic
- Laboratory Systems Group Lab Manager
- Mainstreet Systems & Software DentaLab/PC II
- Mainstreet Systems & Software DentaRX
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Windows
- Microsoft Word
- Scheduling software
- Spreadsheet software
- Web browser software
- Word processing software