Dental Laboratory Technicians
Construct and repair full or partial dentures or dental appliances.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
- Time Management
- Operations Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Active Learning
Key knowledge
- Administration and Management
- Design
- English Language
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Production and Processing
- Education and Training
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mechanical
What the work involves
- 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.
- Remove excess metal or porcelain and polish surfaces of prostheses or frameworks, using polishing machines.
- Train or supervise other dental technicians or dental laboratory bench workers.
- Prepare metal surfaces for bonding with porcelain to create artificial teeth, using small hand tools.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Investigative, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (51.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (26.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (28.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Dental Laboratory Technicians is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 98% of occupations compared | 24% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 79% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 66% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 58% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 98% of occupations compared | 88% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 91% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 74% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 57% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 11.78%
- Occasional contact with others: 20.69%
- Contact with others about half the time: 23.3%
- Contact with others most of the time: 19.88%
- Constant contact with others: 24.34%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 49.54%
- Fairly important: 2.34%
- Important: 7.45%
- Very important: 17.37%
- Extremely important: 23.32%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 9.23%
- Fairly important: 5.53%
- Important: 10.4%
- Very important: 19.25%
- Extremely important: 55.59%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 20.34%
- Some freedom: 38.73%
- A lot of freedom: 40.93%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.95%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.53%
- Every day: 87.52%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 29.65%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 34.13%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.76%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.45%
- Every day: 0%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 33.01%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.33%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.06%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 12.28%
- Every day: 5.33%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 13.87%
- Fairly serious: 39.44%
- Serious: 7.31%
- Very serious: 26.81%
- Extremely serious: 12.56%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 51-9081.00 · SOC 51-9081 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8