A dental technologist is a member of the dental team who, upon prescription from a dental clinician, constructs custom made restorative and dental appliances. There are four major disciplines within dental technology. These are fixed prosthesis including crowns, bridges and implants; removable prosthesis, including dentures and removable partial dentures; maxillofacial prosthesis, including ocular prosthesis and craniofacial prosthesis; and orthodontics and auxiliaries, including orthodontic appliances and mouthguards.
The dentist communicates with the dental technologist with prescriptions, drawings and measurements taken from the patient. The most important aspect of this is a dental impression into which the technologist flows a gypsum dental stone to create a replica of the patients anatomy known as a dental model. A technologist can then use this model for the construction of custom appliances.
