Dental Technicians Jobs: Careers and Education

Dental Technicians, also known as dental lab technician, are vital members of the dental team. They are sometimes confused with dental hygienists but these two really have nothing in common other than being part of the dental team. Dental technicians work in a dental laboratory to design and construct the required patients' dental appliances such as braces, dentures, bridges and crowns. They work in a dental laboratory for a dental practice or hospital. They many work individually in a dentist office or as part of a large group offering services to numerous of dentists.

Dental Technicians may choose to specialize in any of these fields:
  • Prosthodontic Technician: A dental technician that specializes in the making of teeth dentures.
  • Orthodontic Technician: A dental technician that specializes in the production of corrective dental braces and work with orthodontic doctors.
  • Conservation Technician: A dental technician that specializes in the building of bridges and crowns.
  • Maxillfacial prosthetics technician: The dental technician that works in hostpitals with surgeons treating patients with severe traumatic facial injuries that require prosthetic reconstruction surgery.


In order to make the dental appliances, dental technicians work with various precious metals such as gold and different materials such as ceramics, acrylics, wax, etc. Dental technicians need to be dexterous with their hands and creative in their work. They must be very meticulous and precise to produce the final hand-crafted models which will improve the patient's health and image. It is important to possess excellent vision to detect details and hardly noticeable shape variations which will greatly impact the comfort of the bite. Aesthetically, dental technicians must distinguish between similar color shades to pick the one that best suits the patient.

Dental Technicians receive their instructions directly from the dentist and have no contact with patients at all. In general, dental lab Technicians describe their job as very rewarding. This is particularly true if they work on a project from start to finish, have full control on all the variables affecting the final product, and take pride in that their work will directly impact the patient's appearance, comfort and health.

You can find more information on Dental Hygienist Jobs here.