About This Career

Diagnoses, treats, rehabilitates, designs, and fits prostheses that maintain oral function, health, and appearance for patients with clinical conditions associated with teeth, oral and maxillofacial tissues, or the jaw.

This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Measures and takes impressions of patients' jaws and teeth to determine the shape and size of dental prostheses, using face bows, dental articulators, recording devices, and other materials.
• Replaces missing teeth and associated oral structures with permanent fixtures, such as implant-supported prostheses, crowns and bridges, or removable fixtures, such as dentures.
• Designs and fabricates dental prostheses, or supervises dental technicians and laboratory bench workers who construct the devices.
• Fits prostheses to patients, making any necessary adjustments and modifications.
• Restores function and aesthetics to traumatic injury victims, or to individuals with diseases or birth defects.
• Collaborates with general dentists, specialists, and other health professionals to develop solutions to dental and oral health concerns.
• Repairs, relines, or rebases dentures.
• Places veneers onto teeth to conceal defects.
• Uses bonding technology on the surface of the teeth to change tooth shape or to close gaps.
• Treats facial pain and jaw joint problems.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
• Work in this occupation involves bending or twisting your body more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves sitting more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person

Work Hours and Travel

• Regular working hours and limited travel
• Weekend work