dental technician
Dental technicians manufacture dental custom-made devices like bridges, crowns, dentures and appliances under the supervision of dental practitioners following their directions and specifications.
dental technician dental technicians manufacture dental custom-made devices like bridges, crowns, dentures and appliances under the supervision of dental practitioners following their directions and specifications. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.45 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include manipulate dental material, respond to changing situations in health care, contribute to continuity of health care, use e-health and mobile health technologies, maintain laboratory dental tools.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £29,931 a year for Medical and dental technicians (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £26,955 to £36,120 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 3213). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Technicians and associate professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only dental technician, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 3. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Design
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Production and Processing
- Education and Training
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mechanical
What you'd actually do
- Read prescriptions or specifications and examine models or impressions to determine the design of dental products to be constructed.
- Test appliances for conformance to specifications and accuracy of occlusion, using articulators and micrometers.
- Fabricate, alter, or repair dental devices, such as dentures, crowns, bridges, inlays, or appliances for straightening teeth.
- Place tooth models on an apparatus that mimics bite and movement of patient's jaw to evaluate functionality of model.
- Remove excess metal or porcelain and polish surfaces of prostheses or frameworks, using polishing machines.
- Train or supervise other dental technicians or dental laboratory bench workers.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does dental technician do?
Dental technicians manufacture dental custom-made devices like bridges, crowns, dentures and appliances under the supervision of dental practitioners following their directions and specifications.
What skills does dental technician need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include manipulate dental material, respond to changing situations in health care, contribute to continuity of health care, use e-health and mobile health technologies, maintain laboratory dental tools, repair denture prostheses. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace dental technician?
Our AI-durability model gives dental technician a score of 0.45 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.