How To Become A Dental Ceramist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dental ceramist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a dental ceramist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $35.66 an hour? That's $74,175 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 1,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDental CeramistUS Average

Salary

5.8

Avg. Salary $74,175

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.4

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.53%

Asian 9.30%

Black or African American 7.29%

Hispanic or Latino 22.32%

Unknown 3.79%

White 56.77%

Gender

female 48.31%

male 51.69%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

5.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a dental ceramist

Explore dental ceramist education requirements

Most common dental ceramist degrees

Associate

39.5 %

High School Diploma

21.1 %

Bachelor's

21.1 %

Start to develop specific dental ceramist skills

Skills	Percentages
Cad Cam	29.94%
CAD/CAM	29.55%
PFM	21.19%
Dentures	15.12%
Dental Lab	4.20%

Complete relevant dental ceramist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New dental ceramists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a dental ceramist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real dental ceramist resumes.

Research dental ceramist duties and responsibilities

Manage operations of dental laboratory as lead technician, working directly with patients and dentists in an in-house dental laboratory.
Fabricate, repair, or alter dental devices like crowns, inlays, dentures, bridge.
Fabricate, alter, and repair dental devices such as dentures, crowns, bridges, inlays.
Apply porcelain paste or wax over prosthesis frameworks or setups, using brushes and spatulas.

Get dental ceramist experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a dental ceramist. The most common roles before becoming a dental ceramist include dental technician, dental assistant team lead and sales associate.

Prepare your dental ceramist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your dental ceramist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a dental ceramist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable dental ceramist resume templates

Build a professional dental ceramist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your dental ceramist resume.