Dental Lab Technician

The Dental Laboratory Technician position is located at the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). The technician works with a General Dentist or Prosthodontist to design, fabricate and service a wide range of dental prostheses and appliances.The technician assists with complex removable and fixed oral-maxillofacial appliances including fixed, semi-fixed, or removable implant cases, partial and complete dentures.Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/28/2023.
Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency. Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English

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-08 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: using Dental Laboratory material such as impression materials, plasters, stones, hydrocolloids, waxes, metals, acrylics, porcelain, and similar materials; using laboratory equipment such as hand tools, dental lathes, engines, and hand pieces, furnaces, casting machines, presses, flasks, and related equipment; using precision instruments such as articulators, surveyors, and microanalyzers; and constructing dental prosthetic appliance, fabrication of crowns, fixed and removable partial dentures, and complete denture prostheses. (THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY YOUR RESUME TO BE CREDITABLE.).
• OR,
• Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have Possess successfully completed 2 years of graduate education that is directly related to the work of this position as a Dental Laboratory Technician. NOTE: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study; if that number cannot be obtained from the transcript, 18 semester hours will be considered as one full academic year of graduate study. (Transcripts Required).
• OR,
• Combination: Possess equivalent combinations of experience and education as described above, to fully meet the requirements of this position. (Transcripts Required)

Preferred Experience: 1 Year experience as a Licensed Dental Laboratory Technician
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Eye-Hand Coordination
• Physical Strength and Agility
• Quality Assurance
• Security
• Self Management

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: The work is mostly sedentary with occasional standing and lifting of up to 50 pounds. Employees routinely uses lathes, model trimmers, furnaces and sharp tools with a potential for injury. Normal safety precautions must be followed. All tasks do not involve exposure to blood, body fluids, or tissue, but the potential to exposure exists through appliances used by a known risk patient such as seropositive HBV and HIV individuals. (OSHA Exposure Category II).
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/.
Education: IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.
Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.Employment Type: FULL_TIME