Dental Technician Career Description
The dental technician manufactures dentures, bridges, crowns, fillings and orthodontic apparatus. A dental technician does not perform any work on a patient personally, but receives work from a dentist. Impressions are taken of patients' oral structures and an exact replica is cast in plaster for the technician to work on.
What am I going to do in this occupation?
There are four specialities in dental technology:
Prosthetics
This has to do with all facets in the manufacture of full and partial plastic dentures.
Crown and bridge
A crown is made to replace or add to the substructure of an existing tooth. A bridge comprises of more than one unit, normally to replace a missing tooth between existing teeth. For example, the two teeth adjacent to the missing one are prepared to accept crowns, and a pontic is placed in between to fill the gap. All three units are then connected.
Metal, partial denture frameworks
CrCo and other materials have great stiffness and may be made very thin. Instead of having a bulky plastic base for a partial denture, a metal frame that is much more comfortable may be substituted.
Orthodontics
Here, appliances are made to straighten crooked teeth, improve poor jaw relations, or to prevent bad oral habits that may influence the normal growth behaviour of teeth. This profession uses a great variety of materials like metals, polymers, plaster, ceramics and
chemicals. The rapid advances in dental technology materials and techniques make this profession exiting to the interested person.
Requirements
What kind of personality do I need?
Dental technicians should be extremely responsible and accurate workers as their products replace a part of a human body that influences both the health and appearance of the person concerned. Thus, sound vision, manual dexterity, patience with intricate work and an artistic ability that enables them to judge form and design, are all-important qualities of dental technicians. A management contractor (employer) or laboratory manager should exhibit good social skills.
Where can I work?
The dental technician is usually an employee of a dental technician contractor. The latter is a dental technician owning a laboratory and contracting for one or more dentists. The dental technician may also work for dentists, clinics and tertiary institutions. Sufficient work opportunities are available to those who deliver satisfactory work.
Can I work for myself in this occupation?
The dental technician may open an own practice, subject to certain conditions. The dental technician receives work from dentists.
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