laboratory dedicated to the design and manufacture of orthodontic supplies. If you work there, you receive prescriptions from various dental practices. However, some larger dental offices, including schools of dentistry, have their own in-house laboratories, so you may also work directly at the dentist’s office. Typically, technicians who work at a dental practice have more responsibilities, such as to assist the dentist, prep the patient, and install the orthodontic appliances.

An orthodontic technician is responsible for helping to design and construct customized tools used to straighten a dental patient’s teeth. Your duties and responsibilities are to read over the report from the orthodontist, which lays out the instructions for the type of equipment you create. Typically the instruction includes molds, an impression, and other imaging information, from which you work to create the specific equipment. This includes retainers or braces, which come pre-manufactures. It is your job to use milling tools to augment the appliances to fit the specifications for each patient.