Certified Dental Technician (CDT)

Job Description

Job Description

Certified Dental Technician (CDT)

Digital Treatment Planning & Surgical Design

Employment type: Full-time, on-site
Location: Lakewood, NJ
Schedule: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Job Overview

We are seeking a Certified Dental Technician (CDT) to lead digital treatment planning and appliance design in a busy oral and maxillofacial surgery practice. You will work directly alongside our surgeons — merging CBCT and intraoral scan data, planning implant positions prosthetically, designing surgical guides, and producing provisional and interim prostheses in house.

You will translate the surgeon's treatment goals into a workable digital plan, coordinate with referring restorative dentists on the final prosthetic endpoint, and support the surgical team on treatment days.

All treatment plans are prepared for surgeon review and approval. The CDT provides technical design and planning support; clinical and diagnostic decisions remain with the treating surgeon.

Responsibilities

Digital treatment planning

• Import, align, and merge CBCT (DICOM) volumes with intraoral scans, facial scans, and photographs to build accurate patient models.

• Develop prosthetically driven implant plans, positioning fixtures according to the intended final restoration rather than available bone alone.

• Evaluate ridge anatomy and available bone volume and identify cases requiring grafting, sinus augmentation, ridge expansion, or staged treatment; prepare planning options for the surgeon's review.

• Plan around vital anatomy — inferior alveolar canal, mental foramen, maxillary sinus, nasopalatine canal — and flag proximity concerns before the plan is finalized.

• Support planning for extraction and site-preservation cases, including immediate placement feasibility, socket grading, and previsualization strategy.

• Plan full-arch and All-on-X cases, including bone reduction sequencing, fixture angulation, multi-unit abutment selection, and prosthetic space assessment.

• Prepare case presentation materials and planning visuals for surgeon–patient and surgeon–referral discussions.

Design and fabrication

• Design and produce surgical guides: pilot, fully guided, and bone-, tooth-, or mucosa-supported, including bone reduction and pin-fixation guides.

• Design and fabricate immediate provisional and interim prostheses, conversion prostheses, verification jigs, radiographic guides, and custom healing abutments.

• Fabricate surgical stents, splints, and other appliances as prescribed.

• Operate in-house 3D printers and milling equipment through the full workflow: nesting, supports, printing, post-processing, washing, curing, and finishing.

• Verify fit and accuracy of all printed and milled output before release, and document verification.

Surgical and clinical support

• Support the surgical team on procedure days, including same-day denture conversion, provisional relines and adjustments, and chairside modifications.

• Capture or assist with photogrammetry and intraoral scanning for immediate-load workflows where applicable.

• Troubleshoot fit and seating issues in real time and provide rapid turnaround on chairside remakes.

Coordination and communication

• Communicate with referring restorative dentists and their labs to confirm the prosthetic endpoint, restorative platform, and component selection before surgery.

• Maintain implant component and inventory knowledge across the systems the practice uses; order case-specific components and confirm compatibility.

• Track cases through planning, production, and delivery, and proactively flag schedule risk.

• Document design rationale, revisions, and approvals in the patient record.

Compliance and lab operations

• Follow CDC and OSHA infection-control protocols for handling impressions, scans, appliances, and biological material.

• Maintain HIPAA compliance in a patient-facing clinical environment.

• Maintain material traceability and documentation supporting FDA and state requirements for devices produced in house.

• Clean, calibrate, and maintain printers, mills, scanners, and finishing equipment; validate print accuracy on a defined schedule.

Required Qualifications

• Current Certified Dental Technician (CDT) credential in good standing from the National Board for Certification in Dental Laboratory Technology, with specialty certification in Implants and/or Crown & Bridge.

• Ongoing continuing education sufficient to maintain certification.

• [X]+ years of dental laboratory experience, including [X]+ years in implant case work.

• Demonstrated competence in implant planning software (e.g., coDiagnostiX, 3Shape Implant Studio, Blue Sky Plan, DTX Studio, Nemotec) and CAD design software (e.g., exocad, 3Shape).

• Working literacy in CBCT interpretation sufficient to identify relevant anatomy and segmentation artifacts.

• Hands-on experience with 3D printing workflows and post-processing.

• Ability to work to surgical timelines with accuracy under time pressure.

 

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience embedded in an oral surgery, periodontal, or prosthodontic practice rather than a commercial lab.

• Full-arch immediate-load and conversion experience.

• Familiarity with photogrammetry systems.

• Experience with guided bone regeneration planning, including custom mesh or patient-specific grafting solutions.

• Graduate of a CODA-accredited dental laboratory technology program.

• Experience training clinical staff on digital scanning and workflow.

• Current BLS certification.

 

The position is full-time, with working hours from Monday to Friday, along with alternating Sunday shifts. If you believe you have the skills, drive, and passion to contribute to our practice, we invite you to forward your resume for our consideration.

 

Thank you for your interest in joining our team. We look forward to potentially welcoming you to our practice and working together to provide exceptional care to our patients.

 

Job Type: Full-time

 

Benefits:

• Paid time off

Medical Specialty:

• Oral Surgery

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday
• Rotating weekends

Ability to Relocate:

• Lakewood, NJ 08701: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person