Dental Lab Technician CE: What Counts and What Does Not

Dental laboratory technicians are the most under-served group in dental continuing education. There is far less material written for the bench than for the operatory, and what does exist is often clinical content that does not map onto laboratory work.

That is a shame, because laboratory CE obligations are real, and in some cases stricter than the chairside equivalent. Over the past year, five of our ten most-enrolled courses were laboratory courses — they outsell most of what is written for the operatory.

Where your obligation comes from

Unlike a dental license, laboratory CE requirements come from more than one direction, and which ones apply to you depends on your situation:

• State registration. Some states register dental laboratories and require CE of the laboratory or of named individuals within it. Where this applies it usually includes a laws-and-rules component specific to that state.
• Certification. Certified Dental Technician status is maintained through annual continuing education, set by the certifying body rather than by a state.
• Workplace obligations. OSHA and infection control requirements attach to the laboratory as a workplace, independently of anyone's license or certification.

It is common to be subject to two of these at once, on different cycles, which is the main reason lab CE gets confusing.

What actually counts

The mistake we see most often is a technician taking a clinical course that does not qualify. Content written for chairside practice does not automatically count toward a laboratory requirement, and where a state specifies laboratory-relevant subject matter, a general dental course may not satisfy it.

Look for material written for the laboratory. Some of our lab courses include:

• Dental Laboratory Technician Laws and Rules — 2 credits, the laws-and-rules component several states require.
• Dental Laboratory Prevention of Medical Errors — 2 credits, the laboratory version of the medical-errors requirement rather than the chairside one.
• Infection Control — Dental Lab — 4 credits, written around the handling of impressions, appliances and cases returning from an operatory.

The full laboratory selection is on our dental lab CE page.

Infection control deserves its own paragraph

Infection control in a laboratory is a different subject from infection control at the chair, and treating them as interchangeable is a genuine risk rather than a paperwork issue. Cases arriving from a practice have been in a patient's mouth. Disinfection protocols for impressions, prostheses and appliances, and the handling of items moving in both directions between operatory and bench, are laboratory-specific competencies. A course written for chairside assisting will not cover them.

Keeping it straightforward

1. Establish which obligations actually apply to you — state registration, certification, or both.
2. Note that they may run on different cycles, and record both dates.
3. Take laboratory-specific courses for laboratory-specific requirements.
4. Keep certificates for each, since different bodies may ask to see them.

Common questions