Major: Dental Laboratory Technology
Dental laboratory technology students learn how to make and repair crowns, dentures, bridges, and other dental appliances.
Did You Know?
- As a dental laboratory technician, you might specialize in orthodontic appliances, crowns and bridges, complete dentures, partial dentures, or ceramics.
Are You Ready To...?
- Learn to interpret dental lab prescriptions
- Work with metals, porcelains, and other materials
- Construct dentures, bridges and crowns until you get them right
- Spend long hours in the lab
- Prepare for the national certification exam
It Helps to Be...
Good with your hands: dental technology is a very exacting science. And, since dental fixtures must be shaped and colored, it helps to have an artistic eye.
College Checklist
- Is the program accredited by the American Dental Association?
- Will the program prepare you for the national certification exam?
- Tour the labs. Do they feature state-of-the-art equipment?
- Will you have an opportunity to gain real-world experience in hospitals, dental clinics, or commercial labs?
- Will the school help you find work after graduation?
Did You Know?
- A forensic anthropologist has recently determined that George Washington's dentures were made of ivory, gold, lead, and even human and animal teeth -- not wood.
Course Spotlight
Think ceramics, and you probably think of throwing pots. However, your work will be much smaller (tiny, in fact) in Ceramic Techniques, a course typically required for dental lab technology majors. This is where you’ll learn the craft of crown-making, from fabricating and finishing the metal crown to fusing porcelain to the metal. You’ll also have a chance to be artistic when you create just the right color -- with just the right shadings -- for the finished product.
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