Top 12 Dental Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume
In the competitive field of dental technology, a sharp resume that spotlights real, job-ready skills makes all the difference. This guide lays out the top 12 skills dental technicians should feature to prove competence, precision, and confidence in the lab.
Dental Technician Skills
- CAD/CAM
- 3D Printing
- Ceramics
- Orthodontics
- Prosthodontics
- Digital Dentistry
- Shade Matching
- Implantology
- Dental Anatomy
- Quality Control
- Dental Materials
- Intraoral Scanning
1. CAD/CAM
CAD/CAM in dental technology refers to computer-aided design and manufacturing used to craft crowns, bridges, implant components, and more. Digital design feeds automated milling or 3D printing for accuracy, consistency, and speed.
Why It's Important
It elevates precision, trims turnaround times, and produces dependable, aesthetic restorations that fit right the first time.
How to Improve CAD/CAM Skills
Keep learning and keep building. A few strong moves:
Continuous learning: Take focused courses and webinars on dental CAD/CAM. Platforms like Coursera and Udemy carry solid options.
Practice and experimentation: Spend time in your software. Try new design paths, test different parameters, iterate quickly.
Stay current: Follow trade publications and technician communities for new workflows and tips.
Network: Attend meetings and conferences; swap techniques with peers.
Software mastery: Deep-dive into your specific system (for example, 3Shape or Dentsply Sirona). Vendor tutorials and documentation help.
Know your materials: Understand indications, strengths, and limitations so your digital designs match real-world behavior.
Sharpen the software, understand the materials, and your output becomes cleaner, faster, better.
How to Display CAD/CAM Skills on Your Resume
2. 3D Printing
3D printing lets technicians produce dental models, surgical guides, aligners, crowns, bridges, dentures, and more straight from digital designs using additive manufacturing. Custom parts, precise fits, lean workflows.
Why It's Important
It delivers accuracy and repeatability while cutting time and cost—great for custom appliances and consistent outcomes.
How to Improve 3D Printing Skills
Dial in the details and the results jump:
Accuracy first: Use dental-grade, high-resolution printers. Keep calibration and maintenance on a schedule.
Choose the right materials: Select biocompatible resins based on the indication—temporary, permanent, flexible, or castable.
Better design in, better print out: Leverage dental CAD tools for precise margins, correct occlusion, and smart support strategies.
Nail post-processing: Clean, cure, and finish according to manufacturer protocols to hit target strength and surface quality.
Keep learning: Track updates in printers, resins, and workflows through workshops and professional communities.
When design, calibration, and finishing line up, consistency follows.
How to Display 3D Printing Skills on Your Resume
3. Ceramics
Ceramics are biocompatible materials used to craft lifelike restorations—crowns, veneers, inlays, onlays, bridges—mimicking natural teeth in translucency, color, and wear behavior.
Why It's Important
They offer standout esthetics, stability, and safety, giving patients natural-looking, durable results.
How to Improve Ceramics Skills
Refine both science and artistry:
Material selection: Choose proven systems like zirconia or lithium disilicate based on case demands.
Handling and storage: Follow manufacturer guidance to prevent contamination or microdamage.
Precision fabrication: Pair hand skills with CAD/CAM to hit margins, contacts, and occlusion with consistency.
Firing and sintering: Use validated cycles to optimize strength and translucency.
Surface treatment: Glaze and polish properly to boost wear resistance and esthetics.
Continuing education: Stay on top of new powders, blocks, and layering techniques through courses and journals.
Control the workflow and the finish will show it.
How to Display Ceramics Skills on Your Resume
4. Orthodontics
Orthodontics diagnoses and treats misaligned teeth and jaws. For technicians, that means fabricating and repairing accurate appliances—retainers, aligners, expanders, functional devices—that deliver planned tooth movement.
Why It's Important
Precision appliances depend on precise lab work. Alignment, occlusion, and patient comfort hinge on the details.
How to Improve Orthodontics Skills
Level up the process and communication:
Ongoing education: Take courses on modern materials and appliance design through reputable programs.
Go digital: Use digital impressions, CAD setups, and 3D printing for accuracy and speed.
Tight collaboration: Maintain clear protocols with orthodontists for prescriptions, revisions, and approval checkpoints.
When lab and clinic stay in sync, appliance quality and turnaround improve dramatically.
How to Display Orthodontics Skills on Your Resume
5. Prosthodontics
Prosthodontics centers on restoring function and esthetics with crowns, bridges, dentures, and implant-supported prostheses. Technicians translate prescriptions and scans into restorations that feel natural and last.
Why It's Important
It’s the heart of complex restorative work. Strong prosthodontic skills lead to comfortable, durable results and happy patients.
How to Improve Prosthodontics Skills
Build depth and reliability:
Continuous learning: Engage with organizations like the American College of Prosthodontists and the National Association of Dental Laboratories for courses and updates.
Digital integration: Adopt CAD/CAM, guided design, and 3D printing to streamline cases.
Team collaboration: Standardize communication with dentists for shade, occlusion, and fit verifications.
Quality systems: Implement checklists for fit, contact, occlusion, and finish before delivery.
Materials and methods: Track new alloys, ceramics, and bond systems; test and adopt when they outperform your current set.
Consistency grows when education, communication, and QC move together.
How to Display Prosthodontics Skills on Your Resume
6. Digital Dentistry
Digital dentistry covers imaging, CAD/CAM design, milling, printing, aligner planning, and implant planning. For technicians, it means faster, more accurate, more predictable production.
Why It's Important
Digital workflows boost fit, esthetics, and throughput while reducing remakes.
How to Improve Digital Dentistry Skills
Adopt tools and refine technique:
Track new tech: Follow journals and credible sources to stay ahead on scanners, software, and materials.
Upgrade smartly: Choose capable CAD/CAM systems and printers that match your case mix. Peer reviews and technician communities help.
Skill building: Take structured courses (for example, through Coursera or Udemy) to deepen design and CAM strategies.
End-to-end workflows: Link case intake, design approvals, and production with shared digital platforms.
Quality checks: Validate digital impressions, margin integrity, and occlusion both on-screen and post-fabrication.
Patient-centered tools: Support clinicians with smile design previews and clear visualizations.
Sustainability: Reduce waste with smart nesting, efficient curing, and recyclable packaging where feasible.
Small gains in each step compound into real speed and quality.
How to Display Digital Dentistry Skills on Your Resume
7. Shade Matching
Shade matching is the art and science of selecting colors so restorations blend seamlessly with adjacent teeth. Aesthetic success starts here.
Why It's Important
Because even a perfect fit fails if the color is off. Natural, undetectable results require precise shade selection and communication.
How to Improve Shade Matching Skills
Train the eye and systemize the process:
Color theory: Understand hue, value, and chroma; know how lighting changes perception.
Controlled lighting: Use daylight or standardized color-corrected lights for consistency.
Digital tools: Employ spectrophotometers or calibrated cameras when available.
Deliberate practice: Regularly compare tabs to natural dentition and document outcomes.
Clear communication: Align with the dentist on stump shades, photos, and surface texture preferences.
Quality checks: Verify under multiple lighting conditions before finalizing.
Consistency comes from routine, documentation, and honest evaluation.
How to Display Shade Matching Skills on Your Resume
8. Implantology
Implantology focuses on replacing missing teeth with implants and custom restorations. Technicians craft abutments and prostheses that integrate with surgical plans and occlusal schemes.
Why It's Important
Implant work expands a lab’s capability and demands tight tolerances. Precision here drives function, esthetics, and long-term stability.
How to Improve Implantology Skills
Refine planning and production:
Education: Attend workshops on implant components, emergence profiles, and screw-retained vs. cement-retained design.
Digital workflows: Use guided planning, CAD abutment design, and printed verification jigs to reduce misfits.
Team alignment: Coordinate with surgeons and restorative dentists on timing, tissue management, and occlusion.
A rigorous protocol from scan to final torque brings your remake rate down.
How to Display Implantology Skills on Your Resume
9. Dental Anatomy
Dental anatomy covers tooth morphology, occlusion, and supporting structures. Technicians lean on it to sculpt natural contours and functional occlusion.
Why It's Important
Without anatomy fundamentals, restorations look flat and function poorly. Understanding form, contacts, and guidance is non-negotiable.
How to Improve Dental Anatomy Skills
Build knowledge, then sculpt it into muscle memory:
Core texts: Study references like Wheeler’s Dental Anatomy, Physiology, and Occlusion.
Courses and webinars: Use reputable education platforms for structured learning.
3D visualization: Explore anatomy software such as Anomalous Medical or 3D Tooth Atlas to study form dynamically.
Hands-on practice: Carve wax-ups, design in CAD, and compare to natural dentition.
Community insight: Participate in technician forums to troubleshoot and refine techniques.
Continuing education: Attend workshops and association courses to deepen occlusion and morphology skills.
Repetition, reference, and review—that’s how morphology sticks.
How to Display Dental Anatomy Skills on Your Resume
10. Quality Control
Quality control ensures dental devices meet defined standards for fit, function, biocompatibility, and esthetics—before they ever reach the patient.
Why It's Important
It prevents remakes, safeguards patients, and protects a lab’s reputation.
How to Improve Quality Control Skills
Build a system that catches problems early and often:
Education: Pursue ongoing training through technician organizations and guilds.
Standardized SOPs: Map every process step; document criteria for acceptance and rejection.
Equipment care: Calibrate and maintain mills, printers, furnaces, and scanners on a routine schedule.
Material integrity: Source from reputable suppliers and track lot numbers.
Quality systems: Align with medical device standards such as ISO 13485 where applicable.
Feedback loops: Collect structured feedback from clinicians and track remake reasons to drive improvements.
Document, measure, improve—then repeat.
How to Display Quality Control Skills on Your Resume
11. Dental Materials
Dental materials include ceramics, composites, metals, and polymers used to fabricate and repair restorations and appliances. Knowing their properties is the backbone of reliable lab work.
Why It's Important
Material choice drives strength, wear, esthetics, and longevity—ultimately, patient satisfaction.
How to Improve Dental Materials Skills
Work smarter with better materials knowledge:
Durability: Favor wear-resistant options and high-strength ceramics or modern composites where indicated.
Biocompatibility: Prioritize materials with strong clinical evidence and low allergenic potential.
Esthetics: Use systems with natural translucency and broad shade ranges; understand layering for depth.
Handling: Choose materials with predictable workflows and working times that suit your lab.
Cost-effectiveness: Balance performance with affordability to keep care accessible.
Research mindset: Read journals, attend webinars, and evaluate new releases before adoption.
Sustainability: Seek options and processes that reduce waste and environmental impact.
Pair evidence with bench testing in your lab to decide what stays in your lineup.
How to Display Dental Materials Skills on Your Resume
12. Intraoral Scanning
Intraoral scanning captures a patient’s dentition digitally with a handheld wand, producing a 3D model. Technicians then design and fabricate restorations and appliances from clean, accurate data.
Why It's Important
Digital impressions cut errors, speed up cases, and improve fits—fewer surprises, fewer adjustments.
How to Improve Intraoral Scanning Skills
Accuracy and comfort, every time:
Stay updated: Keep scanner software and firmware current; updates often improve accuracy and speed.
Training: Practice scanning paths and retraction techniques; use structured courses to solidify habits.
Workflow prep: Control moisture, clear the field, and follow a consistent scanning sequence.
Patient experience: Explain the process and pace the scan to minimize discomfort.
Quality control: Calibrate per recommendations and review scans for holes, pulls, and margin clarity before sending.
Clean scans in, clean restorations out. Simple as that—if you make it routine.
How to Display Intraoral Scanning Skills on Your Resume
