Job Summary

The Marion IL Health Care System Dental Service is hiring a Dental Laboratory Technician. The incumbent performs the full range of the most complex procedures in support of dental professionals and the veteran population.

Job Description

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/28/2025. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-8. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Individual Occupational Requitements: Specialized Experience for positions at GS-4 and above: Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Use of dental laboratory material such as impression materials, plasters, stones, hydrocolloids, waxes, metals, acrylics, porcelain, and similar materials. Use of laboratory equipment such as hand tools, dental lathes, engines, and hand pieces, furnaces, casting machines, presses, flasks, and related equipment. Use of precision instruments such as articulators, surveyors, and microanalyzers. Construction of dental prosthetic appliances. GS-9 You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-8 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Receives lab cases and prescriptions from dental staff, confers with the treating doctor regarding design and fabrication, labels the cases, and determines the urgency of the work so that cases with the highest urgency are completed first, while creating a work plan to get the remaining cases done in a timely manner. Collaborates with Restorative Dentists, Prosthodontists, or Oral Surgeons to design and fabricate complex dental or intra-oral maxillofacial appliances. This involves (1) receiving and interpreting dental laboratory prescriptions, (2) working with these specialists in developing the design of the appliance, (3) confers with the treating specialist to determine a work flow that will ensure prioritization of cases with highest urgency, (4) personally fabricating, or overseeing the fabrication of the appliance, and (5) resolving problems in its fabrication. Ordering and maintaining laboratory supplies and equipment, researching new techniques and equipment, inventory and shipment of laboratory cases, act as facilitator between dental service and community based clinics, maintenance of the infection control protocol within the laboratory, oversight of laboratory cleanliness and orderliness, etc. Communicates effectively with patients, patients' families, dental specialists, staff dentists, and other Dental Service staff. Contacts also include sales representatives within the healthcare industry involved in providing supplies and dental instrumentation and equipment. Contact with other employees in the hospital includes nurses on the patient wards, clerical staff, and administrative staff. OR, Education: To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have two full years of graduate education or a master's degree in a degree relevant to the position. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications Production and Processing Technical Competence Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Long periods of standing, sitting and bending are required. The work requires above average agility and dexterity. Work Environment: Work involves regular and recurring exposure to potential hazards of plaster dust, fire (open flame), chemical exposure (methylmethacrylates, alcohol, polymers, sterilizing agent) and communicable diseases (exposure to blook, saliva, tissue, bone). The lab technician wears face masks, protective glasses, and uses special aseptic techniques when handling impressions or other items that are potential infection hazard. They work in a clinic setting with some exposure to patients in dental treatments rooms. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.