Crowns, dentures, and implant prosthetics all carry a lab cost, so the associate is commonly paid on production net of the lab fee and the in-house ceramist is paid per unit. WageTime settles both sides in one run, on the basis the practice supplies.
This page is for independently owned prosthodontic practices and dental groups. WageTime provides configurable pay codes and credential tracking; it does not subtract lab fees as a named feature or provide legal, tax, or compensation advice. How a net-of-lab basis is set up is confirmed on the demo.
The American College of Prosthodontists puts the specialty at about 3,800 prosthodontists, a small corner of roughly 202,485 active US dentists (ADA News; ADA Health Policy Institute). The office that supports one runs a payroll no general practice runs: an associate paid net of lab fees, a technician at the bench paid per unit, and a credential clock the clinical team never sees, mostly reconciled in a spreadsheet, every payday.
Prosthodontics lives on the laboratory. Crowns, fixed and removable partials, complete dentures, and implant prosthetics each carry a lab cost, and on a heavy restorative case that cost is a real fraction of the fee. Before anyone is paid a percentage, the lab invoice has to be matched to the case, and that reconciliation is the front desk's job, done by hand, every single period.
Where crown and implant work dominates, an associate is paid on production or collections net of the lab fee: a common structure is a percentage of collections less the same percentage of the lab bill, so 35% of collections less 35% of lab nets to roughly 33% (Dental Economics). That subtraction is rebuilt in a workbook each pay period, and a lab cost cut can move realized pay 10% to 30% on a heavy month, with a rounding error nobody catches until the associate asks.
Many prosthodontic offices keep an in-house dental laboratory technician or ceramist, sometimes a Certified Dental Technician, fabricating units chairside-adjacent. Median pay for a dental lab technician is about $48,310 a year (BLS, May 2024), and the pay is often a piece rate per crown, per denture, or per unit finished. Turning a week of fabricated units into a paycheck, with overtime figured right when the tech also works hourly hours, is per-unit math the office does on paper.
The ceramist's Certified Dental Technician credential renews on a clock nobody else in the building shares: the National Board for Certification in Dental Laboratory Technology issues it, and it renews annually on at least 12 continuing-education hours a year (NBC). It sits on top of the doctor's dental license, DEA registration, sedation permit, ACLS card, and CBCT credential for implant planning, five renewal dates already, plus a sixth for the bench.
A full-mouth or implant-supported case moves from diagnostic to surgery to a provisional to a final seat over months of healing (Implant DR). The production credit, and the associate pay it drives, lands at delivery, not at the start, so a case worked in spring is paid in summer, and matching the lab fee to the right period is a timing problem a flat monthly spreadsheet hides.
The associate percentage is a tiered commission pay code applied to whatever production basis the practice supplies, commonly net of the lab fee where crown and implant work dominates. You define the basis; WageTime does the payroll math, mechanism rather than compensation advice.
Replaces the production reconciliation spreadsheet, and the percentage re-typed off the practice-management report.
WageTime runs the bench as a per-unit production role no generic dental payroll expects: a piece rate per crown, per denture, or per unit fabricated, hourly hours beside it. With the trade shrinking as digital milling spreads (BLS), on-time bench pay is a retention lever.
Replaces the per-unit notebook, and the blended-rate overtime figured by hand.
Bench and chair credentials sit on the same WageTime records, which no general office has to reconcile together: the ceramist's CDT and its annual CE-hour clock beside the doctor's sedation permit, ACLS card, and CBCT credential, one quarter-ahead view across the team.
| Employee | Credential | Expires | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| M. Ellis, CDT | CDT certification (12 CE hrs) | Aug 09 | 14 days |
| Dr. A. Reyes | IV sedation permit | Oct 05 | 71 days |
| R. Ortiz | CBCT operator credential | Mar 22 | Current |
| Dr. A. Reyes | State dental license | Mar 31 | Current |
| T. Boyd | CPR/BLS card | Jan 18 | Current |
Replaces the CDT CE deadline tracked in one place and the doctor's permits in another, and the renewal missed between them.
In one run, the chair and the bench together. A full-mouth case seats a quarter after it starts, so the practice supplies each period's net basis for the cases that actually seated, and WageTime runs the percentage on the figures it is given.
Replaces the three stapled-together spreadsheets, and the lab fee matched to the wrong month.
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See a demoSet the associate's percentage as a tiered commission pay code, and WageTime applies it to the net-of-lab basis your practice supplies each period. The netting reflects how you define the basis, not a WageTime feature, and the exact setup is confirmed on the demo. WageTime provides the pay codes and the run, not compensation advice.
Yes. Because the percentage runs on the production basis you supply each period, a month with heavy crown and implant lab costs and a lighter month both settle on the same code, using the net figures you provide for that period. Minimum-wage processing measures a light restorative week against the wage floor for the hours actually worked, so a slow month still clears the floor.
A ceramist or dental laboratory technician runs on the same payroll as the clinical team, paid a piece rate per crown, per denture, or per unit fabricated through a custom per-unit pay code, a base hourly rate, or both at once. Whichever basis you use, the pay lands on the same check as taxes and deductions, with no separate lab-pay spreadsheet.
Yes. Put the per-unit piece rate and any hourly rate on the same employee, and when a week mixes fabricated units and hourly hours WageTime settles weighted-average overtime on the blended regular rate automatically. Minimum-wage processing covers a slow fabrication week, and approved clock hours flow straight from the time clock into the run.
The Certified Dental Technician credential sits on the technician's record with its renewal date and document attached, and WageTime fires alerts 30, 60, and 90 days before it expires. The CDT renews annually on at least 12 CE hours a year through the NBC, a clock separate from every clinical license. WageTime tracks the date and stores the document; it does not verify the credential itself.
Yes. The doctor's moderate or IV sedation permit, ACLS card, and CBCT credential for implant planning sit on the same record set as the ceramist's CDT, each with its own renewal date and document, alongside the dental license, DEA, radiography cert, and CPR card. The office manager reads one quarter-ahead list for the whole team, bench and chair, rather than opening five folders.
A full-mouth or implant-supported case seats months after it starts, and the production credit and the associate pay it drives land at final delivery rather than at the diagnostic visit. Because the percentage runs inside payroll, the lab fee is matched to the period the case actually pays out, not smeared across a flat month. How your practice recognizes staged production is something to bring to the demo.
$50 a month for the practice plus $10 per person paid that month, with unlimited payroll runs. Off-cycle runs, production corrections, and bonuses cost nothing extra, every federal, state, and local tax is filed automatically, and year-end W-2s and 1099s are included. A practice that adds an associate or a bench technician pays for who was paid. Multi-EIN groups are covered on our DSO and dental groups page.
One associate paid on a percentage of net production, your lab-cost basis, and a ceramist paid per unit. Twenty minutes with a payroll specialist on a live demo practice: you'll watch a commission run apply your net basis with a minimum-wage floor, a per-unit bench check settle with weighted overtime, and a CDT renewal flag next to the doctor's sedation permit.
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