Dental Lab Owner to Pay for New Dentures

The unlicensed operator of a dental laboratory has been ordered to pay for new dentures for a woman who claimed that his shoddy work left her unwilling to smile, the city attorney’s office said.

Shaya Hagouel, 52, of Granada Hills, was also fined $5,400 by Municipal Judge Robert Hess and ordered to serve 100 hours of community service or 10 days on a Caltrans work crew.

On Friday, a jury convicted Hagouel of two counts of practicing dentistry without a license, the city attorney’s office said.

The unidentified 66-year-old woman told investigators that the dentures made for her earlier this year by Hagouel were so short that her front teeth could not be seen when she smiled.

“She said they weren’t made properly and they didn’t fit her so she couldn’t smile,” said Deputy City Atty. Keith De La Rosa.

“It’s kind of sad because ordinarily she said she usually smiles a lot.”

Hagouel, the owner of Precision Orthodontic Laboratory at 5344 Laurel Canyon Blvd., was ordered to pay for a legitimate dentist to make new dentures for the woman, De La Rosa said.

The charges against Hagouel stemmed from two separate incidents--a state Board of Dental Examiners “sting” operation at the laboratory in April, and a complaint filed by the denture-wearing woman in May after she read a story in The Times about the initial charge being filed, authorities said.

Doubting that a licensed dentist worked at the lab, dental examiners sent an investigator with ill-fitting dentures to Hagouel’s business.

After diagnosing the problem, Hagouel was about to adjust the dentures by grinding them when other investigators entered the office and identified themselves, Deputy City Atty. Mark Lambert said.

Hagouel could not be reached for comment.