DENTAL LABORATORY TECHNICIANS can you please tell me all about your work?

Hi , I am very interested in a career in dental laboratory work. How and where did you get your training? How do I find a school or college that has this degree/training ? How long was the training ? What is the job like? How much can I expect to earn ? Are jobs plentiful? What are the general hours days like? Any chance for advancement? Is it rewarding work ? Do you have to be artist or mechanically inclined ?I live in the NY metro area .

DENTAL LABORATORY TECHNICIANS can you please tell me all about your work?
i have been a dental technician for 16 years, i recieved my training on the job, however you can go to school to learn at any dental school. i would advise that you should have some artistic ability, to be able to make the most money. jobs are fairly plentiful in certain areas. if you go to school they will tell you to expect to come out of school and be able to make 15 dollars an hour which is bull! i would not hire a technician , degree or not with no experience in the lab and pay that. in the south a good ceramist can expect to make about 30,000 a year after you have a 4 to 5 years under your belt. you can find labs that pay rather well, but your best bet is to get some experience in lab, then open your own laboratory. after 16 years now i am making about 60 to 70,000 a year, but it has been hard to get here, and i am very good at what i do. the hours can be very long if you own your own lab, it used to be nothing for me to work 14 hour days 6 days a week, and i am sure it will happen again, its part of the business. it is a very rewarding career for me, i love my work! i think having a desire to help people has to be important for this career. i get much satisfaction when a patient leaves the office in tears of joy, grinning from ear to ear with their new smile! my advice if you are seriously thinking about this as a career, would be to check some labs in your area, explain that you are thinking about going to school for dental technology and ask to be able to come in to the lab for a couple of days and shadow somwone to see what its like. i would do this at more than one lab as they all are run differently, try large as well as small labs just to get a good feel. i hope i have helped! good luck!