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When I'm looking at Armin Shimerman photos, I can see, that his teeth are in nearly perfect condition. Yet, I have never seen any Ferengi with straight, healthy teeth.

Do we have any off-screen information, how do they prepare actors playing Ferengi characters or how do they achieve the effect of Ferengi teeth out of actors having "normal" teeth?

I can see, that Star Trek's make up and characterization department is (was) doing really well, especially when it comes to characters like Morn played by Mark Allen Shepherd:

enter image description here

But, even with this evidence, I can imagine how do they get characters with holes in teeth or with triangle-like teeth out of actors having straight, rectangle-like teeth.

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    The answer is "false teeth". You can buy a set here
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 13, 2015 at 11:26
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    You can see Armin Shimerman putting them in here
    – Valorum
    Commented Sep 13, 2015 at 11:26

1 Answer 1

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This interview with Karen Westefield (Senior Makeup Artist for DS9) gives an overview regarding Armin Shimerman's makeup routine

Q: Take us through a typical day on Deep Space 9.

KW: On a typical day if Armin is working I have to be there at 4:30am. He arrives at 5:00am. I get a half-hour set up. They give me two hours to do his makeup. First, I apply the prosthetic head and face pieces, do all my edge work and then patch any air bubbles from the foam. I then Pax it and wait until that dries. We take a break for about 5 minutes (I call it the 7th inning stretch), then get back to work. I then paint everything. I usually finish in about 45 minutes. The time might be longer depending on Armin's actions during each episode and the amount of glue. The makeup I do is pretty low maintenance for me and Armin takes good care of it. After his makeup is done, I put powder the face. Armin goes to rehearsal, changes into his costume, then returns to makeup. I then remove the powder and apply KY Jelly to the face. I do his hand makeup, fingernails, he cleans his false teeth, and we're off and running.


Interestingly, they seem to have used the same moulds for various different Ferengi teeth

enter image description here

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    The photos are of different Ferengi played by the same actor (Max Grodénchik), so using the same moulds was an easy way to save money. It might not be possible for different actors to use the same moulds in closeup shots.
    – Gaultheria
    Commented Nov 9, 2018 at 17:51

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