Bert Aldridge, laboratory manager at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and Len Bradshaw, his counterpart at Kings College Dental School, discussed the possibility of forming an association for orthodontic technicians.

During the meetings that followed, the constitution was written, and the first conference was planned, which was held in April 1973, at University College Hospital in London.

The current president is Bill Ip, consultant orthodontist at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

It consisted of an image of the base of a maxillary Angle's trimmed study model surrounded by an annulus with the words "ORTHODONTIC" and "TECHNICIANS" at the top and "ASSOCIATION" at the bottom, separated by dashes.

The third and current logo has been used since September 2017 and consists of a blue globe with a "bite" removed from the left-hand side and the letters "OTA" in lowercase.

[2] The 1990s saw the Association build links with a similar organization based in (Germany), Gesellschaft für Kieferorthopädische Zahntechnik (GK; Society for Orthodontic Dental Technology), which was established in 1990.

The second decade of the 21st century has seen the OTA build links with their Italian and Polish counterparts, Accademia Italiana di Ortodonzia Tecnica, (AIOT; Italian Academy of Orthodontic Technology), ORTEC and Polskie Towarzystwo Techniki Ortodontycznej (PTTO; Polish Association for Orthodontic Technology).

Continuing professional development (CPD) has been at the heart of what the OTA stands for, long before it became mandatory for UK dental technicians in 2008.

Conferences have become a regular occurrence for the Association since the 1980s, with meetings held in towns and cities including Basingstoke, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gloucester, Luton, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Skipton, Southampton, Stirling and Windermere.

The DTS is co-located with the British Dental Conference and the Dentistry Show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

Between 2016 and 2019 the OTA sponsored a speaker and had a trade stand at the Scottish Dental Show, which is held at the Braehead Arena in Renfrewshire.