What Does a Dental Lab Technician Do?
Dental lab technicians play an essential role in restoring or replacing teeth to provide healthy eating capabilities as well as a pleasant appearance. While a dentist works directly with patients, dental technicians rarely see patients in person. Instead, they work with molds and prescriptions from a dentist to prepare anything from crowns to bridges of two or more teeth to partial or full removable dentures and teeth for implants. They also make orthodontic braces to straighten teeth.
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Significance
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From archaeological evidence, early humans did not get cavities, probably because they did not eat refined sugar. However, they did have poor teeth due to their diet, which contained lots of sand and dirt wearing down the teeth. (Source: James Wynbrandt, "The Excruciating History of Dentistry," St. Martin's Griffin, 2000, p. 4.) Modern people are saved from tooth wear by cleaner foods but suffer the consequences of less nutritive and more invasive diets that include sugar-causing cavities and tooth decay. This leads to the need not only for dentists to deal with teeth problems on the front lines, but a need for dental technicians to make sophisticated tooth replacements and repair older dental appliances.
Function
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When a patient needs restorative work on one or more teeth such as crowns, full or partial dentures, the dentist sends the necessary instructions, models or impressions to a dental laboratory. Dental technicians at the laboratory will make the required materials. This can involve anything from creating a simple replacement crown or tooth to dentures. In the process, the technician reads the dentist's prescription, makes crowns or appliances using wax molds and other substances, then finishes and polishes the result.
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Features
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The starting salary for a dental lab technician is not high. The National Association of Dental Laboratories has figures (see Resources). There is a lengthy training process involved that may last 3 to 4 years--either totally on the job or combined with course work in community colleges, or in accredited programs in dental lab technology. While certification is not a job requirement, it does improve chances for employment.
Considerations
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Working as a dental lab technician requires excellent hand and eye coordination skills, as well as good color vision. The highly detailed work requires individuals who have fine manual skills in using small tools. In many cases, technicians work in small laboratories, although there are some very large labs. The military also trains and uses dental technicians. Being able to view this work for the benefit it brings to many people when a technician is able to match the look of natural teeth can be very rewarding on a psychological level.
Potential
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While the potential for employment in this field is growing, it is increasing at a slower than average rate in the overall medical technology field. The increasing age of the population, with corresponding increases in the number of people who are candidates for tooth replacement and cosmetic improvement, is being balanced by improvements in dental health. Enhanced capabilities for tooth implants will decrease the need for complicated, full dentures.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Charles R Anderson
