Archer’s film work isn’t just limited to teeth; for the movie Castaway, he created a dental abscess for Tom Hanks. “They wanted to have an abscess above the tooth with all sorts of gunk coming out of it. I met with Tom and we came up with this wonderful little piece,” says Archer. “It was only in the film for a few moments but everyone remembers him taking the ice skate and knocking his tooth out with it because it was causing him such pain. It’s not for the easily squeamish!”

Archer used dental acrylic to create a “meth mouth” for actor Tim Robbins based off photos of actual meth addicts.

Archer has created a variety of braces for actors, including Judy Greer, pictured with partial headgear. Archer has pioneered a technique for braces that makes them completely removable and not attached to the actor’s teeth; prior to this, if braces were required, a dentist was needed to actually attach the brackets to the actor’s teeth and then remove them after filming.

One of the most difficult requests Gary Archer gets is to make an actor look like he or she has no teeth. Actress Rene Russo shows off a blacked-out posterior piece, making it look like she only has six anterior teeth. “I place black acrylic over the existing teeth with pink acrylic around it,” he explains. “It’s done in conjunction with lighting and makeup to really sell the illusion.”