Also called: FX Teeth Maker, Film Dental Prosthetics Artist
Makes custom fake teeth, fangs, and rotten smiles that actors wear in movies, TV, theater, and haunted attractions.
An FX dental technician takes a mold of an actor's teeth, sculpts snaggled zombie teeth in wax, and casts them in thin acrylic that snaps over the real ones. On set they fit them, clean them between takes, and fix any chips.
Approximate; many also work in regular dental labs.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Certificate, about 2 years after high school. Dental lab technician training plus effects-shop experience.
Ways in: Trade school, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Dental Laboratory Technology, Theater Makeup.
Growing about average. Tiny niche tied to film, TV, and haunt seasons.
Low risk for 10 years. Digital scans help, but sculpting, fitting, and on-set fixes stay hands-on.
Classes: Biology, Art (sculpture), Chemistry.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.