Dental Laboratory Technician

Summary

This position is in the Dental Service of the VA Portland Health Care System located in Portland, OR. The primary purpose of the Dental Laboratory Technician is to independently fabricate a full range of complex, fixed and removable dental prostheses, including those requiring advanced technical skill, digital workflows, and clinical judgment - in direct support of patient care provided by staff dentists.

Learn more about this agency

Duties

Help

***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION***

Duties include but may not be limited to the following:

• Fabricates fixed dental prostheses, including crowns, bridges, veneers, inlays, and porcelain-to-metal restorations.
• Selects and uses advanced materials (e.g., zirconia, titanium, layered ceramics) based on case complexity and esthetic requirements.
• Repairs dentures, including fractures, broken or missing teeth, and damaged clasps.
• Creates dental models and dies from impressions and prepares wax patterns for crowns, bridges, and other restorations.
• Performs laboratory processing procedures such as investing, casting, glazing, finishing, and polishing.
• Selects and sets denture teeth and mounts/articulates cases to establish proper occlusion, articulation, and jaw relationships.
• Uses digital scanners and CAD/CAM technology to design, mill, sinter, and finish dental restorations.
• Fabricates dental appliances such as nightguards, splints, fluoride trays, and surgical or radiographic guides.
• Consults with dentists to resolve discrepancies involving impressions, prescriptions, or occlusion, recommending technical solutions for difficult cases.
• Fabricates removable dental prostheses, including full and partial dentures.
• Trains students, work-study participants, and other trainees in fixed and removable prosthetic fabrication techniques.
• Maintains dental laboratory equipment in safe and efficient operating condition.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; hours vary between 7:30am - 5:00pm PST

Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized

Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.?
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Required Documents" below for details.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION AT THE GS-8 GRADE LEVEL, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position.

~AND~

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: You must possess one year of specialized experience that equipped you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position, and that is typically in or related to the position. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level in Federal service.

Qualifying specialized experience includes:

• 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;
• Articulation and occlusion of cases to include full arch models with multi-unit castings to be articulated in the full range of mandibular excursions.

NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week.

~OR~

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE: You must possess one and a half years (1 1/2) of graduate level education with course work or an internship that is directly related to the work of this position. One year of full-time graduate education is the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the one year of full-time study requirement. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.

NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.

~OR~

COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: You must possess equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education (beyond the first year) and specialized experience, as described above, to meet total experience requirements. The education portion must include courses directly related to the work of this position.

NOTE: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

NOTE: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit:

Additional information

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 80 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Help

A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.