Glossary
Dental Lab Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential dental lab technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key dental lab technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in dental lab technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Articulator
- Simulates jaw movement.
- Bridge
- Replacement tooth anchored to neighbors.
- CAD/CAM
- Computer design and milling.
- Crown
- Tooth cap.
- Denture
- Removable teeth.
- Die
- Model of a prepared tooth.
- Glaze
- Shiny finish.
- Intraoral scan
- Digital impression.
- Margin
- Edge of a restoration.
- Occlusion
- Bite.
- Porcelain
- Ceramic layered on restorations.
- Shade
- Tooth color.
- Sintering
- Heating zirconia to harden.
- Wax-up
- Wax model of teeth.
- Zirconia
- Strong ceramic material.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Dental Lab Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Dental Lab Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.