Making Movie Magic One Tooth at a Time

It all started with a request no technician ever gets: “Can you make a set of dentures that will fall out?” Since the request came from a dentist-client’s patient who also happened to be a makeup artist in the film industry, Gary Archer, Owner of AA Dental Lab, Woodland Hills, CA, was intrigued and decided to give it a try.

That set of dentures ended up falling out of Robin Williams’ mouth in the 1993 blockbuster hit Mrs. Doubtfire.

Archer never planned to work in Hollywood; he was 18 when he started at his father’s removable lab and the two have worked side-by-side ever since. But thanks to word of mouth after Mrs. Doubtfire, he received dozens of requests for more film work. “At the time, there was nobody who specialized in special effect dental prosthetics or knew what could or could not be done with the materials available,” he explains.

To handle the new business, he opened G.A. Enterprises and has spent the last 20...