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Dental technicians design, make and repair the dental appliances used for improving patients' appearance, speech or ability to eat.
You could work: between 8am and 6pm;
You will:
Dental technicians often specialise in orthodontic, crown and bridge work or prosthetics. Depending on your specialism you could:
You may need to wear protective clothing.
You could work in a laboratory.
You can get into this job through:
You could do a foundation degree or degree in dental technology approved by the General Dental Council.
You're likely to need a degree qualification to do advanced dental technology work.
You'll usually need:
You can do a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Dental Technology, approved by the General Dental Council.
You'll usually need:
You can get into this role through a higher apprenticeship as a dental technician.
If you want to make dental appliances and also have more direct contact with patients, you could go on to do a clinical dental technologist higher apprenticeship.
You'll usually need:
You can work as a trainee dental technician with a practice and study part-time. This could take up to 5 years, depending on which qualification you do.
You could join The Dental Technologists Association, for professional development and training opportunities.
You can get more details about how to become a dental technician from Health Careers.
If you want more direct contact with patients you could take further training to become a clinical dental technician. In this role you would provide dentures direct to patients with no natural teeth or provide partial dentures for patients with some teeth.
You could take further training as a healthcare scientist, specialising in reconstructive sciences, like maxillo-facial prosthetics through the NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP).
With experience you could set up your own laboratory, or work abroad.
You could become a senior or chief technician, move into quality control, sales or management. You could also go into teaching or research.