Dental Laboratory Technician

Veterans Health Administration•Jackson, MS

10d•Onsite

About The Position

The Dental Laboratory Technician for the G.V. Sonny Montgomery VA Medical Center is accountable for and provides oversight of the dental clinics, working closely with providers to design and fabricate fixed and removable intra-oral prostheses. The technician collaborates with providers on appliance design, fabricates or oversees fabrication from beginning to end, and resolves fabrication problems. Work includes complex removable and fixed oral-maxillofacial appliances, including fixed, semi-fixed, or removable implant cases; completely guided implant surgical stents; and dentures requiring unusually close tolerances or solutions to difficult issues involving retention, balance, and pressure on natural teeth and tissue. The technician also constructs routine full and partial dentures, dental splints, obturators, models for fixed prostheses, and other laboratory products supporting staff dentists’ treatment needs. The position requires applied knowledge and skill with the CEREC system, including staining, milling, adjustment, and programming. The technician researches current materials and technology used in prosthesis fabrication, modification, and repair, and trains dental hygienists, dental assistants, volunteers, dental students, and dental residents on relevant materials, equipment, and techniques. This is an onsite, non-virtual position with a Monday–Friday schedule of 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., subject to change based on agency needs. The position is permanent; relocation and recruitment incentives and permanent change of station are not authorized. The work requires extended periods of standing, sitting, and bending, climbing onto counters to replenish plaster bins, and lifting 30-pound plaster boxes from the floor to counters and bins. Reasonable accommodation or workplace adjustment may be used for physical requirements.

Requirements

One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation.
Experience using dental laboratory materials such as impression materials, plasters, stones, hydrocolloids, waxes, metals, acrylics, and porcelain.
Experience using laboratory equipment such as hand tools, dental lathes, engines, handpieces, furnaces, casting machines, presses, and flasks.
Experience using precision instruments such as articulators, surveyors, and microanalyzers.
Experience constructing dental prosthetic appliances.
Ability to evaluate how design and fabrication decisions affect the fit, function, and performance of completed dental appliances.
Knowledge of normal and abnormal oral anatomy and dentition as applied to the design, fabrication, function, and esthetics of dental prostheses.
U.S. citizenship is required.
Current Federal employees and certain former Federal employees applying to a GS-08 position must meet the 52-week GS-07 time-in-grade requirement.
Applicants must complete the application, questionnaire, and required online assessment.
Selective Service registration is required for males born after December 31, 1959.
Must participate in the seasonal influenza vaccination program.
Must serve a one-year probationary period or two-year trial period, as applicable.

Responsibilities

Collaborate directly with providers to design complex dental and intra-oral appliances.
Fabricate appliances personally or oversee their fabrication from beginning to end, and resolve fabrication problems.
Design and fabricate complex fixed, semi-fixed, and removable oral-maxillofacial appliances, including implant cases and completely guided implant surgical stents.
Fabricate partial and complete dentures requiring unusually close tolerances and address difficult retention, balance, and pressure-related issues involving natural teeth and tissue.
Construct routine full and partial dentures, dental splints, obturators, models for fixed prostheses, and other laboratory products for staff dentists.
Use the CEREC system for staining, milling, adjustment, and programming.
Research current materials and technology for prosthesis fabrication, modification, and repair.
Train dental hygienists, dental assistants, volunteers, dental students, and dental residents in dental laboratory materials, equipment, and techniques.
Provide accountability and oversight for the dental clinics.