A day in the life of a Dental Technician: what does a Dental Technician do?

5.30 am: On an ideal day I’m up before my alarm goes off and avoid the snoozing button on my phone.

6:00 am: Shower, get dressed and have my breakfast with my husband. I used to just roll out of bed 15 minutes before I was due to leave but I’ve really been enjoying actually having time in the morning lately.

6:30 am: Catch the bus and then the train: I live in zone 4, still in London… but only just!

7:35 am: Arrive at Paddington, get my coffee on the way to the office. I don’t intend to be the first one in but with the limited transport links from Greenford into Paddington I always sneak in first.

7:55 am: As I see some late runners rush through the front door, I do my best to catch a glimpse and brighten up their day with a quick “Good Morning”. Whilst I am doing that, I start my day off with clearing out the sintering Furnace with perfectly baked Zirconia crowns or bridges from the previous day and the milling machine with what was milled overnight. Then I do my daily maintenance such as cleaning and calibrating the machinery.

9:30 am: I also start to build the models on 3Shape which are then prepared and sent to our Asiga 3D printer.

10:00 am: I start milling the jobs from the queue and check for any urgent cases to be milled on the day.

11:00 am: Around this time, I shift over to my colleague’s department to check if any help is needed with the traditional models. Whilst I am doing that, I am looking out for any implant cases that require gingiva. This is the point where the implant is placed. My job is to replace or imitate the soft tissue in the patient’s mouth. The gingiva can be easily removed from the model allowing greater vision which aids with the connection between the analogue and the implant crown which will be digitally designed by our CAD-CAM department.

12:30 pm: Every other day at this time, I am asked to place several orders to replenish our stock and make sure that we have what we need for smooth operations. Additionally, we make sure that we are fully stocked up to avoid any delays. Finally, I make sure that the milling or printing machines are busy before I go to lunch so that there is no down time.

13:00 pm: I always try and prepare my lunch at home the day before and my favourite meal is a salad with chicken. During our 1-hour lunch break, we tend to sit together as a team and engage in conversations which vary across the board. I like to bring in new and innovative topics such as “what our lab will look like in 10 years’ time”. I suppose they all think I am a bit nerdy but in reality, I am not, said every nerd ever…

14:00 pm: I start my second half of the day with a coffee to keep me going. I also receive new jobs for milling and printing which I add to the queue and repeat the morning cycle. I also incorporate surgical guides to my workflow. This means I go through the CBCT and intraoral scans from dentists checking the ideal point of implant placement whilst keeping a close communication with the dentist. Then, a final check is conducted to make sure that instructions and the information is aligned with the report.

16:00 pm: I start my preparation and make sure that the milling and printing machines will run overnight. This includes, trimming and cleaning Zirconia crowns or bridges, preparing digital projects for execution and finally I focus on the high priority cases for the next day.

17:00 pm: Home time! Also, a final disclaimer that no day is the same, and being adaptable and positive helps me get through any challenging moments.