Dental Laboratory Technician

Dental Laboratory Technician

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Temple, Texas

Salary Range: $55882 - $72644 Per Year

Job Summary: The Dental Lab Technician is given wide latitude in the accomplishment of the numerous duties consistent with the expertise of the position. This position requires Staff Dentists consults on the planning and design for fabrication of complicated appliances. Dental knowledge and terminology are expected during these consults and the technician's advice carries considerable weight in the planning and management of technical cases.

Major Duties:

• Duties include, but are not limited to: Develops casts and dies in dental plaster and stone from impressions furnished by the dentist. Constructs custom trays and bite registration rims. Selects and set up denture teeth in proper occlusion and balance suitable for wax try-in for both normal and unusual cases, such as cross bites, Prognathism, missing oral structures, etc., according to the dentist's specifications. Processes and finishes full and partial removable prosthesis suitable for delivery to the patient by the dentist. Constructs splints for treatment of temporomandibular joint disorders, treatment of fractures, and any other situations calling for this type appliance according to the dentist's specifications. Mounts cases for fixed partial prosthesis on various articulators according to the bite registration furnished by the dentist. Develops wax pattern for crowns and fixed bridges in proper contour and occlusion. Performs all steps necessary to cast patterns in precious, semi-precious, or non-precious metals. Finishes gold or metal castings suitable for delivery to the patient by the doctor. Performs all steps necessary in the application of porcelain or acrylic to metal castings for the construction of crowns and fixed bridges. Works directly with the dentist in fabricating such appliances as obturators, splints, fracture bards, etc., in difficult and unusual cases. Fabricates partial dentures working with the dentist to get proper placement of bars, clasps, and rests. Responsible for prepping cases to be sent to outside lab. Responsible for unpacking and notifying dentist/dental assistant when cases arrive from outside lab. Ensures that all cases to be sent out have appropriate paperwork, models, occlusal registration and sent to the correct lab. Responsible for keeping an accurate log of cases submitted to lab, cases sent out, where cases were sent and when cases returned. Responsible for cleanliness of his/her work area and, along with the other technicians, the general cleanliness of the lab. In the performance of these duties the incumbent may be reassigned to any site to provide coverage in the absence of other employees. Has regular access to printed and electronic files containing sensitive data, which has been protected under the provisions of the privacy act, Federal regulations, and VA policies. Responsible to protect that data from unauthorized deletion and to follow applicable regulations and instructions regarding access to computerized files, etc., as set forth in a computer agreement which the incumbent has signed. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 7:30am - 4:00pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Dental Laboratory Technician/PD01118A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 05/18/2026. Individual Occupational Requirements: Use of dental laboratory material such as impression materials, plasters, stones, hydrocolloids, waxes, metals, acrylics, porcelain, and similar materials. Use of laboratory equipment such as hand tools, dental lathes, engines, and hand pieces, furnaces, casting machines, presses, flasks, and related equipment. Use of precision instruments such as articulators, surveyors, and microanalyzers. Construction of dental prosthetic appliances. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-08 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: knowledge of the oral cavity anatomy and tooth morphology; knowledge of dental material used in the fabrication of the dental prosthesis; knowledge of instruments and equipment used in the dental laboratory; understanding of steps and techniques employed in the construction of dental prosthesis; knowledge of computer technology sufficient skill to enter and retrieve data. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Accountability Attention to Detail Communications and Media Customer Service Decision Making Eye-Hand Coordination Flexibility Integrity/Honesty Interpersonal Skills Interpret Instructions, Specifications (other than blueprint reading) Learning Manages Resources Reading Comprehension Self-Management Stress Tolerance Teamwork Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Some work may require movement between offices, hospitals, warehouses, and similar areas for meetings and to conduct work. Work may also require walking/standing, in conjunction with travel to and attendance at meetings and/or conferences way from the work site. Incumbent may carry and lift light items weighing less than 15 pounds. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12954570. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 05/18/2026. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit

Application Deadline: 2026-05-18