Dental laboratories are facilities that study, install, repair, replace, and construct dental devices. In Manhattan dental labs are charged with the responsibility of helping dentists with rendering oral health care services to the public. They do this by manufacturing and customizing various dental gadgets. People who work in such laboratories are known as technologists or technicians and their major duty is filling prescriptions from dentists. Prescriptions filled include bridges, dentures, crowns, and prosthetics among others.
The technicians must follow the instructions of the dentists to the latter in manufacturing the devices. The devices manufactured may be prosthetic such as implants and denture teeth or therapeutic such as orthodontic devices. All the products made in these labs are subject to the quality and other requirements imposed by the FDA in the US. However, they are exempted from manufacturer registration requirements in most cases.
The job done by these laboratories requires various tools and methods. Dental polishing and/or finishing disks, lab casting machines, articulators, furnaces, and lathes are among the tools used. Computer graphics and/or imaging software are used to come up with the specifications followed in construction of various structures such as prosthetic appliances. Currently, perfect products are produced with minimum efforts because sophisticated techniques and tools are employed.
Impression sets or plasters are used to produce models of the mouths of patients who visit. Customization is done to the models to achieve accurate specifications in final products. Workers exercise specialization in big laboratories while in small ones, workers take parts in all the stages of production from the beginning to the final step. Most of the large scale facilities are also certified by the concerned federal authority. This raises their standards, efficiency, and trustworthy.
Working environment is well lit and clean. All technicians are allocated tables and their own sets of apparatus. Some of equipment assigned include burners, personal computers, and hand equipment among many others. Most workers work for more than forty hours in a week. Their work does not involves making contact with patients. As such contact with patients does not happen or is very limited.
There are no strict academic requirements to get employment as a dental lab technician. Most lab owners employ people with at least a high school diploma because most of the skills are learned at the work place. However one can also get training in universities, community colleges, vocational institutions, the armed forces, junior colleges, or technical institutes. Some workers begin as helpers to main technicians but then learn gradually to become senior technicians themselves.
The salary a technologist earns may be dictated by the position they hold and the size of the facility. Technologists holding supervisory and management positions earn the highest amounts. In 2009, an average worker in the US used to earn an approximated amount of 18 US Dollar per hour. Every year many individuals get jobs in these labs and the salary scale keeps going up.
People who work as dental lab technologist have several advantages. One of the advantages is the flexibility of the career which allows people to get employment in commercial laboratories due to skills earned. One may also establish a private lab and deliver advice to clients or make devices. The degree of sophistication of products fabricated determines how much clients pay.
The technicians must follow the instructions of the dentists to the latter in manufacturing the devices. The devices manufactured may be prosthetic such as implants and denture teeth or therapeutic such as orthodontic devices. All the products made in these labs are subject to the quality and other requirements imposed by the FDA in the US. However, they are exempted from manufacturer registration requirements in most cases.
The job done by these laboratories requires various tools and methods. Dental polishing and/or finishing disks, lab casting machines, articulators, furnaces, and lathes are among the tools used. Computer graphics and/or imaging software are used to come up with the specifications followed in construction of various structures such as prosthetic appliances. Currently, perfect products are produced with minimum efforts because sophisticated techniques and tools are employed.
Impression sets or plasters are used to produce models of the mouths of patients who visit. Customization is done to the models to achieve accurate specifications in final products. Workers exercise specialization in big laboratories while in small ones, workers take parts in all the stages of production from the beginning to the final step. Most of the large scale facilities are also certified by the concerned federal authority. This raises their standards, efficiency, and trustworthy.
Working environment is well lit and clean. All technicians are allocated tables and their own sets of apparatus. Some of equipment assigned include burners, personal computers, and hand equipment among many others. Most workers work for more than forty hours in a week. Their work does not involves making contact with patients. As such contact with patients does not happen or is very limited.
There are no strict academic requirements to get employment as a dental lab technician. Most lab owners employ people with at least a high school diploma because most of the skills are learned at the work place. However one can also get training in universities, community colleges, vocational institutions, the armed forces, junior colleges, or technical institutes. Some workers begin as helpers to main technicians but then learn gradually to become senior technicians themselves.
The salary a technologist earns may be dictated by the position they hold and the size of the facility. Technologists holding supervisory and management positions earn the highest amounts. In 2009, an average worker in the US used to earn an approximated amount of 18 US Dollar per hour. Every year many individuals get jobs in these labs and the salary scale keeps going up.
People who work as dental lab technologist have several advantages. One of the advantages is the flexibility of the career which allows people to get employment in commercial laboratories due to skills earned. One may also establish a private lab and deliver advice to clients or make devices. The degree of sophistication of products fabricated determines how much clients pay.
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