Clarification from the agency

This announcement is open to current, permanent employees of Veterans Affairs. First area of consideration is employees of Bay Pines VA Healthcare System and its Community Based Clinics.

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Dental Laboratory Technician duties include, but are not limited to:

• Performs total fabrication of both fixed or semi-fixed restorations, full or removable partial dentures, and/or dental splints and obturators.
• Constructs wrought wire buccal arm clasps.
• Constructs acrylic esthetic replacements for gingival tissue removed during Perio Surgery.
• Researches the best materials for use in laboratory procedures involving implants, magnet dentures, permanent soft-liners and light cured materials.
• Designs and constructs models of different prosthetic appliances.
• Waxes, invests, boils out, cures and deflasks acrylic bases for partial and complete dentures.
• Blocks out master casts, waxes complete dentures for try-in.
• Shapes wax to contours desired in the final dentures, and to the thickness required to maintain facial contours.
• Carves and contours wax to duplicate the appearance of natural oral tissues.
• Removes excess wax, smooths and polishes surfaces.
• Reproduces dentures.
• Removes excess acrylic from dentures, grinds and selects methods to simulate contours of natural tissue.
• Polishes dentures.
• Preserves anatomical borders developed by the Dentist.
• Bends wrought wire clasps and bars.
• Tempers and shapes metal with various types of pliers into various component parts which are assembled, incased in a heat resistant investment and fused together in position with gold solder.
• Finishes, polishes, heats, treats and fits metal onto the master case.
• Submits articulated casts for partial denture framework fabrication in the Central Dental Laboratory, Dallas, Texas, and upon receipt of the cast framework, adds saddle areas with the teeth and processes partial denture as previously outlined.
• Fabricates crown, inlays and fixed partial dentures from gold alloys, porcelain or acrylic materials, alone or in combination, according to case requirements.
• Selects appropriate porcelain or acrylic facings of proper shade, size and shape.
• Articulates casts, adapts wax to die and carves patterns to proper anatomical contour and occlusion.
• Provides cutout space for veneer on facial surface where required, selects and adapts porcelain facings.
• Casts gold attachments and pieces and pontics; aligns and solder bridges; processes acrylic crowns and veneers; grinds and polish castings; avoids loss of margin adaptation.
• Constructs fixed components of implants in gold, and/or porcelain.
• Constructs and fabricates bite raisers, cleft palate obturators, fracture splints, immediate dentures, surgical template, and orthodontic appliances.
• Provides on-the-job training.
• Orders and stocks laboratory supplies.
• Performs preventive maintenance on all laboratory equipment.
• Maintains records of workload for various reporting purposes in a timely and accurate manner.
• Follows manufacturers recommendations and Reusable Medical Equipment (RME), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) regarding Dental equipment (critical, semi critical, non-critical items).

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm
Telework: Not authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Dental Laboratory Technician/PD04121A
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized
Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/05/2025.

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-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-08. 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.


You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:


GS-09 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:

1. Use of dental laboratory material such as impression materials, plasters, stones, hydrocolloids, waxes, metals, acrylics, porcelain, and similar materials.
2. Use of laboratory equipment such as hand tools, dental lathes, engines, and hand pieces, furnaces, casting machines, presses, flasks, and related equipment.
3. Use of precision instruments such as articulators, surveyors, and microanalyzers.
4. Construction of dental prosthetic appliances.

OR,

GS-09 Education (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a degree that is directly related to the work of the Dental Laboratory Technician position. Such graduate education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.

• NOTE: Licensed professional dentists will be considered qualified for any grade level if they have, in the aggregate, the required experience in dental laboratory procedures.

OR,

GS-09 Combination (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED): Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have a combination of specialized experience directly related to the work of the Dental Laboratory Technician position and graduate education beyond One and a half years (27 semester hours).

• 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.

Note: IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Verbiage displayed on your resume or application must contain your own words. You may refer to the specialized experience located within the vacancy announcement, to assist with describing work experiences; however, resumes or applications received that copied verbatim from the announcement will be evaluated and may be reviewed as falsifying your experience or application.



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 of this position requires bending and utilizing arms, hands, and fingers in the very precise manner needed for the demands of dental technology. Visual acuity and color discrimination is very important because of the exacting requirements of the work. The ability to lift 50 pounds is required. Safety clothing/equipment and compliance with safety regulations is required to minimize the hazard involved in the fabrication of prosthesis appliances.

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/.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.