Top 12 Dentist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In a crowded dental job market, a resume that hums with real skill makes hiring managers pause. Make your strengths obvious. Sharpen the language. Show the depth. The right blend of clinical, digital, and patient-centered abilities signals you’re ready to step in and deliver.

Dentist Skills

1. Invisalign
2. CEREC
3. Digital X-rays
4. Laser Dentistry
5. CAD/CAM
6. Periodontics
7. Endodontics
8. Prosthodontics
9. Orthodontics
10. Dental Implants
11. Sedation Dentistry
12. 3D Imaging

1. Invisalign

Invisalign uses a series of clear, removable aligners to move teeth gradually—often with attachments, IPR, and staged refinements for precision.

Why It's Important

Aesthetic, removable, and efficient. It expands treatment acceptance, tackles mild to complex cases when planned well, and keeps chair time lean with predictable outcomes.

How to Improve Invisalign Skills

Dial in diagnosis and execution from day one.

1. Imaging and Records: Capture accurate digital scans and comprehensive photos; refine bite registration to prevent midcourse corrections.

2. Biomechanics: Use attachments wisely, plan IPR conservatively, and stage movements in achievable increments.

3. Patient Compliance: Coach wear-time habits, hygiene, and aligner care; set expectations for refinements early.

4. Monitoring: Tighten follow-up intervals or remote checks; tweak tracking issues before they snowball.

5. Continued Education: Study difficult cases—rotation, extrusion, deep bites—and refine setups based on outcomes.

Thoughtful planning plus consistent follow-up equals fewer surprises and cleaner finishes.

How to Display Invisalign Skills on Your Resume

2. CEREC

CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics) enables same-day crowns, onlays, inlays, and veneers with in-office scanning, design, milling, and finishing.

Why It's Important

One visit. No temps. More control over margins, contacts, and occlusion—patients love the speed, and restorations look and last the part.

How to Improve CEREC Skills

Small refinements compound.

1. Preparation Protocols: Respect material-specific reduction, rounded internal line angles, and crisp, readable margins.
2. Scanning Technique: Train your team on retraction, dry field management, and scan path for artifact-free models.
3. Design Mastery: Customize occlusion and contact strength; avoid over-bulking. Calibrate mill for consistent fit.
4. Finishing: Polish or stain-and-glaze appropriately; follow correct crystallization/sintering cycles.
5. Maintenance: Keep mills, blocks, burs, and filters in spec; poor upkeep shows up as poor fits.

Precision in each step translates to effortless seats.

How to Display CEREC Skills on Your Resume

3. Digital X-rays

Digital radiography captures images with sensors instead of film, producing fast, clear diagnostics at significantly reduced radiation doses.

Why It's Important

Immediate images, enhanced detail, and fewer retakes. Better diagnostics with lower exposure—safer for everyone.

How to Improve Digital X-rays Skills

Clarity and safety over everything.

1. ALARA/ALADAIP: Use the lowest dose that still yields diagnostic quality; tailor exposure to patient size and indication.

2. Positioning: Train on sensor placement, paralleling technique, and use of positioning devices to cut distortion and retakes.

3. Quality Assurance: Calibrate sensors and X-ray units routinely; perform regular image quality audits.

4. Collimation and Shielding: Incorporate rectangular collimation and thyroid collars where appropriate.

5. Software Tools: Use filters judiciously—contrast, sharpness, and annotations—without overprocessing.

6. Data Security: Encrypt, back up, and control access; protect PHI as fiercely as you protect enamel.

How to Display Digital X-rays Skills on Your Resume

4. Laser Dentistry

Lasers treat soft and hard tissue with remarkable precision, often with less bleeding, swelling, or post-op discomfort.

Why It's Important

Cleaner cuts. Faster healing. Often less anesthesia. From frenectomies to troughing to desensitization, it streamlines care.

How to Improve Laser Dentistry Skills

Know your wavelengths, know your tissue.

1. Right Tool, Right Job: Diode for soft tissue; erbium for enamel, dentin, bone; CO2 for efficient soft tissue vaporization.

2. Settings and Technique: Calibrate power, pulse, and tip selection; keep motion smooth and controlled. Water spray matters for hard tissue.

3. Safety Protocols: Protective eyewear for all, plume control, and strict signage. Document parameters in the chart.

4. Tissue Outcomes: Track healing and esthetics; adjust technique based on postoperative results.

5. Training: Earn certifications and revisit advanced courses as you expand indications.

How to Display Laser Dentistry Skills on Your Resume

5. CAD/CAM

CAD/CAM blends digital design with precision manufacturing to create restorations—chairside or via partner labs—with tight margins and consistent esthetics.

Why It's Important

Speed and accuracy converge. You control the workflow, cut remakes, and deliver highly customized results.

How to Improve CAD/CAM Skills

Treat it like a craft.

1. Preparation Design: Follow reduction and taper guidelines for the chosen ceramic or hybrid; avoid undercuts.

2. Scanning Fundamentals: Master retraction, moisture control, and scan strategy to capture unbroken margins.

3. Library and Morphology: Choose tooth libraries that match patient anatomy; fine-tune contacts and occlusion consciously.

4. Material Selection: Use high-strength ceramics for posterior load; layered or translucent options for the smile zone.

5. Device Care: Keep scanners calibrated and mills serviced; replace burs and blocks proactively.

6. Case Reviews: Photograph, document, and debrief results to iterate on your process.

How to Display CAD/CAM Skills on Your Resume

6. Periodontics

Periodontics focuses on the gums and supporting bone—preventing, diagnosing, and treating periodontal disease while preserving function and esthetics.

Why It's Important

Periodontal health underpins everything. Treat inflammation and you protect teeth, implants, and systemic wellness.

How to Improve Periodontics Skills

Work smarter, earlier, and more precisely.

1. Risk Assessment: Use staging and grading frameworks; factor smoking, diabetes, genetics, and compliance.

2. Nonsurgical Excellence: Deliver meticulous scaling and root planing; reinforce home care with tailored tools.

3. Adjuncts: Consider locally delivered antimicrobials or host modulation in the right cases.

4. Surgical Mastery: Practice flap design, regeneration, and mucogingival procedures; document outcomes to refine technique.

5. Maintenance: Tight recall intervals for high-risk patients; track bleeding on probing and attachment changes.

How to Display Periodontics Skills on Your Resume

7. Endodontics

Endodontics treats diseases of the pulp and periapical tissues—root canal therapy, retreatments, and surgical endodontics to save teeth and stop pain.

Why It's Important

Relieves acute pain, preserves natural teeth, and prevents spread of infection. Precision here pays off for a lifetime.

How to Improve Endodontics Skills

Consistency breeds success.

1. Isolation: Rubber dam every time; contamination sabotages outcomes.

2. Glide Path and Shaping: Create a reproducible glide path; shape conservatively while maintaining canal curvature.

3. Irrigation: Use robust irrigation protocols (e.g., NaOCl and EDTA) with activation to disrupt biofilm.

4. Working Length: Combine apex locator with radiography for accuracy; verify frequently.

5. Complexity Triage: Leverage microscopy and CBCT for calcified, curved, or previously treated canals—and refer when it’s prudent.

6. Obturation: Choose techniques that match case anatomy; confirm 3D fill without overextension.

How to Display Endodontics Skills on Your Resume

8. Prosthodontics

Prosthodontics restores and replaces missing or damaged teeth—crowns, bridges, dentures, and implant prostheses—to recover function and esthetics.

Why It's Important

It’s the art of putting the bite back together. Chewing, speaking, smiling—rebuilt with precision.

How to Improve Prosthodontics Skills

Plan meticulously, then execute with finesse.

1. Diagnostics: Comprehensive records, mounted models, and risk assessment drive predictable plans.

2. Occlusion: Understand vertical dimension, guidance, and force distribution; avoid iatrogenic interferences.

3. Provisionals: Use temps to test esthetics and function; transfer that success to the final.

4. Shade and Texture: Control light, photos, and shade maps; communicate microtexture to labs clearly.

5. Implant Prosthetics: Respect torque specs, emergence profile, and screw access positioning.

How to Display Prosthodontics Skills on Your Resume

9. Orthodontics

Orthodontics aligns teeth and jaws with brackets, wires, aligners, and auxiliaries to improve function, esthetics, and long-term stability.

Why It's Important

Better occlusion protects teeth and joints, simplifies hygiene, and shapes a confident smile. Prevention through alignment.

How to Improve Orthodontics Skills

Clarity in diagnosis, discipline in mechanics.

1. Comprehensive Records: Ceph analysis, models, photos, and growth assessment guide plan selection.

2. Biomechanics: Stage movements logically; manage anchorage; use attachments, elastics, or TADs thoughtfully.

3. Digital Tools: Employ 3D planning and scanners for precise setups and efficient progress tracking.

4. Patient Coaching: Reinforce elastic wear, hygiene, and dietary guidelines—compliance wins cases.

5. Retention: Prescribe retainers with purpose and a maintenance plan; protect the finish line.

How to Display Orthodontics Skills on Your Resume

10. Dental Implants

Implants are biocompatible fixtures—most commonly titanium or zirconia—anchored in bone to support crowns, bridges, or dentures.

Why It's Important

They look and function like natural teeth, preserve bone, and stabilize prosthetics. Long-term, they can transform oral health.

How to Improve Dental Implants Skills

Success starts long before the drill.

1. Case Selection: Evaluate systemic risks, occlusion, parafunction, and soft tissue phenotype carefully.
2. 3D Planning: Use CBCT-driven planning and surgical guides to respect anatomy and prosthetic goals.
3. Site Development: Employ grafting and GBR when needed; build volume before you ask bone to carry load.
4. Surface and Materials: Choose modern surfaces and connection designs that support osseointegration and stability.
5. Prosthetic Planning: Position for screw-retained solutions when possible; design emergence for cleansability.
6. Maintenance: Establish supportive care protocols and monitor peri-implant tissues diligently.

How to Display Dental Implants Skills on Your Resume

11. Sedation Dentistry

Sedation uses medication to reduce anxiety and discomfort—ranging from nitrous oxide to oral and IV options—so treatment proceeds smoothly and safely.

Why It's Important

It opens the door for patients who avoid care, allows longer visits, and improves cooperation for complex procedures.

How to Improve Sedation Dentistry Skills

Safety is the standard; comfort is the promise.

1. Patient Selection: Use medical history and ASA classification to guide modality and setting; obtain informed consent and pre-op instructions (including NPO as indicated).

2. Monitoring: Maintain vigilant monitoring—pulse oximetry, blood pressure, and capnography when appropriate. Document vitals throughout.

3. Dosing and Reversal: Know onset, peaks, and half-lives; have reversal agents and emergency equipment ready, checked, and within reach.

4. Team Training: Drill emergency scenarios, airway maneuvers, and medication protocols regularly.

5. Recovery and Discharge: Use clear criteria for discharge and written post-op instructions; ensure escort when required.

How to Display Sedation Dentistry Skills on Your Resume

12. 3D Imaging

3D imaging—most commonly CBCT—renders teeth, bone, and vital structures in three dimensions for precise diagnosis and surgical or orthodontic planning.

Why It's Important

See what 2D misses. Measure accurately, place safer, diagnose earlier, and plan with confidence.

How to Improve 3D Imaging Skills

More detail, less dose, smarter decisions.

1. Field of View: Select the smallest FOV that answers the clinical question; minimize exposure while maximizing relevance.

2. Protocols: Use low-dose settings when possible; standardize patient positioning to reduce artifacts.

3. Interpretation: Build competency in reading scans or collaborate with oral and maxillofacial radiologists for complex cases.

4. Integration: Merge DICOM with STL files for guided surgery and aligner planning; verify registration accuracy.

5. Data Stewardship: Store, encrypt, and back up imaging data; manage access and retention policies responsibly.

How to Display 3D Imaging Skills on Your Resume