DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS, PROFESSIONAL STATUS AND QUALIFICATION OF DENTAL TECHNICIANS IN BULGARIA

The profession of "dental technician" appeared relatively late. The first dental technicians were trained by dentists and worked for them. Gradually, they separated as master owners of the studios and began to hire and train apprentices and journeymen. This time has long been forgotten. After 1997, a dental technician became a person who acquired the right to practice the profession after three years of college education. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the profession began with private initiative, passed through state and municipal ownership of dental laboratories, in order to return, for the most part, back to private initiative. Our goal is to study and present demographic characteristics, professional status and qualifications of practitioners in the specialty. To achieve this goal, we studied literature sources, regulations and conducted a sociological survey involving 360 dental technicians. The respondents are from 25 regional colleges of the Bulgarian Association of Dental Technicians, from which we received permission to hold it. We found that the class is relatively aging, which is in line with the demographic problems in our country and in the countries of the European Union. The profession is dominated by men, managers of dental laboratories, who for the most part are registered as Independent Medical and Technical Laboratories. A relatively large number of dental technicians periodically attend postgraduate courses to meet the ever-increasing demands of dentists and patients.