How to hire a dental technician

How to hire a dental technician, step by step

Here's a step-by-step dental technician hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a dental technician job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new dental technician
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a dental technician do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your dental technician job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a dental technician for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect dental technician also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of dental technician salaries for various roles:

   Type of Dental Technician	Description	Hourly rate
   Dental Technician	Dental and ophthalmic laboratory technicians and medical appliance technicians construct, fit, or repair appliances and devices, including dentures, eyeglasses, and prosthetics.	$19-55
   Finishing Technician	With great attention to detail, a finishing technician must have the ability to use all the machinery provided to finish a job. Finishing technicians must work long hours on sketches, blueprints, and other specifications... Show more	$12-20
   Technician	Technicians are skilled professionals who primarily work with technology in different industries. They are knowledgeable about the technical aspects of the various items they work with... Show more	$11-27

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Dentures
   • Dental Care
   • Prosthetics
   • Dental Lab
   • Cad Cam
   • CAD/CAM
   • Patient Care
   • Oral Surgery
   • Infection Control
   • Hand Tools
   • Dental Procedures
   • Chair Side
   • Dental Clinic

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Utilize 3-D scanning and printing software and hardware to create zirconia dental appliances.
   • Take impressions and seat Invisalign aligners.
   • Wax and/ or finish implants and substructures.
   • Specialize in Invisalign but also apply braces when necessary.
   • Fit and finish of FMC and PFM crowns and frameworks.
   • Draft bridge superstructures, substructures and design precast concrete and structural steel bridges.

   More dental technician duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your dental technician job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A dental technician can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, dental technicians' average salary in alabama is 50% less than in maryland.
   • Seniority. Entry-level dental technicians 65% less than senior-level dental technicians.
   • Certifications. A dental technician with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a dental technician's salary.

   Average dental technician salary

   $68,232yearly

   $32.80 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level dental technician salary

   $40,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 13, 2025

   Average dental technician salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Maryland	$89,576	$43
   2	New Jersey	$88,917	$43
   3	California	$85,600	$41
   4	Arizona	$83,423	$40
   5	New York	$82,147	$39
   6	Montana	$78,046	$38
   7	Oregon	$77,094	$37
   8	Massachusetts	$77,032	$37
   9	Washington	$76,678	$37
   10	Ohio	$75,111	$36
   11	Hawaii	$74,256	$36
   12	Nevada	$73,434	$35
   13	Virginia	$70,904	$34
   14	Connecticut	$70,292	$34
   15	Georgia	$63,631	$31
   16	Illinois	$59,428	$29
   17	Michigan	$59,299	$29
   18	Texas	$55,937	$27
   19	Tennessee	$51,105	$25
   20	Minnesota	$50,950	$25

   Average dental technician salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Private Practice	$88,894	$42.74	10
   2	Promega	$87,123	$41.89
   3	da Vinci Dental Studios	$84,379	$40.57
   4	Geisinger Medical Center	$80,250	$38.58	9
   5	Western Dental	$79,264	$38.11	86
   6	Aspen Dental	$72,847	$35.02	1,019
   7	DCS	$71,962	$34.60	17
   8	Dental Care Alliance	$71,934	$34.58	283
   9	Broward Health	$70,531	$33.91
   10	University Health System Inc	$68,597	$32.98	3
   11	UT Health East Texas	$65,007	$31.25
   12	Nationwide Children's Hospital	$57,836	$27.81	4
   13	Boston University	$57,574	$27.68	7
   14	P&RDentalStrategies	$55,953	$26.90
   15	ManpowerGroup	$53,099	$25.53	23
   16	Masterworks	$49,806	$23.95
   17	Dental Innovations	$49,460	$23.78	1
   18	Glidewell	$48,265	$23.20	5
   19	Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi	$46,026	$22.13	1
   20	Tufts University	$44,426	$21.36	2

4. Writing a dental technician job description

   A dental technician job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a dental technician job description:

   Dental technician job description example

   Hours: 8 am to 4:30 pm

   
   

   About Us

   Orthodent Laboratory (ODL) is a digital orthodontics and dental lab that offers doctors a full range of traditional appliances and digital solutions, providing orthodontists with a pathway to growth and clinical excellence. For more than 30 years, Orthodent has served orthodontists across the nation by combining exceptional quality with superior customer service. In addition, our commitment to innovation is unparalleled. We are driven by quality and guided by family. Please visit our website to read more about our history, About | ODL Orthodontic Labs.

   
   

   Our Mission

   To create orthodontic products and solutions that inspire a lifetime of confidence.

   
   

   Full-time Employees will be eligible for benefits after 60 days of employment.

   • Health insurance
   • Dental and vision insurance
   • Company paid life insurance
   • Voluntary life insurance
   • Short-term and long-term disability
   • 401K with company match and profit sharing

   Job Summary

   The Wire Bending Technician will bend wires for orthodontic appliances.
   
   

   Ideal candidates possess excellent eye-hand coordination, attention to detail, ability to recognize the small differences in color and shape, manual dexterity, and interest in sciences.

   Bring your talent to ODL and we will provide the additional tools and training to begin a rewarding career as a dental technician. We are a growing family-owned business with excellent opportunities for advancement into leadership and training roles.

   To be successful in this position, you may have:

   
   

   • experience with hand tools, Dremel tools, open-flame soldering, and/or laser welding.
   • worked with prosthetics.
   • knitted, crocheted, or detailed crafting.
   • wired electrical boards.
   • made jewelry.
   • experience with fine detailed work with hands.

   
   

   Essential Duties:

   • Bend wires for orthodontic appliances.
   • Document and enter data that corresponds with cases completed.
   • Effectively communicate verbally and electronically using Microsoft Teams and Outlook Email.
   • Work as a team and support team members by engaging and giving feedback to nurture a continuous improvement atmosphere.
   • Cleans and maintains supplies, tools, equipment, and storage areas to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
   • Maintains a safe, organized, and efficient work area.
   • Performs other duties as assigned.

   Education and/or Experience:

   • High school diploma or general education degree (GED); or 1+ years of related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience

   Schedule is Monday - Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm. There is a high potential for overtime for this position.

   
   

   To be considered for this position, candidates must submit a cover letter and you must have experience using your hands in a technical capacity.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find dental technicians for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any dental technicians they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level dental technicians with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your dental technician job on Zippia to find and recruit dental technician candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting dental technicians requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new dental technician

   Once you've selected the best dental technician candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new dental technician. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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