Dental technician

You would help to give people stronger, straighter teeth. You’d design and build dental devices for people who have lost teeth or need help to correct the appearance and performance of their teeth.

You also repair and adjust the devices once they are in place.

You could specialise in one of four key areas:

• In orthodontics, you’d create plastic or metal devices, such as braces, to straighten teeth
• In crown and bridge work, you’d construct items which can be cemented in place
• In prosthetics, you’d produce plastic dentures or implants, some of which have metal inserts to help keep them straight
• In maxillo-facial prosthetics, you’d help to reconstruct the faces of people damaged by accident or disease

You’d work with a wide range of materials such as gold, porcelain and plastic to design and make specialist devices to suit patients’ needs.

You would use the latest techniques, equipment, instruments, and computer technology. You’d need to understand and interpret complex, technical instructions.

If you work in a private dental lab, you would create devices and appliances for lots of different dental practices across a wide geographical area.

If you work in an National Health Service (NHS) hospital, you might help dental surgeons. You could design and build artificial parts for patients with facial injuries, cancer or cleft palates. The NHS salary for this role is covered by the NHS Agenda for Change pay rates. You can see information about the pay and conditions on the dental technician page on the NHS Careers website.

You could also work in the Armed Forces.