Burbank Dental Lab GM, Jerry Morton Trades In His Lab Coat For A Tommy Bahama Shirt

General Manager, Jerry Morton trades in his lab coat for a Tommy Bahama shirt, retiring after 25 years at Burbank Dental Lab

A General Manager at Burbank Dental Lab and a 25-year employee, Jerry Morton enters a new adventure in his life as he retired on October 27th.

Jerry was raised in a typical mid-west home, where he developed his core values of hard work, honesty, and friendliness. He grew up very active in sports and other community activities.

After graduating from high school Jerry decided to serve his country and entered the United States Navy on June 21, 1973, where he received training and graduated from dental assisting and advanced prosthetics school in 1974. In the Navy, he served in many capacities including assisting in clinics and running the clinic operations. What he loved most was working as a dental lab technician. After his Honorable Discharge in 1979, Jerry earned his CDT in removable prosthetics. He worked as a removable partial denture technician for 12 years in the prosthetic laboratory industry before joining Burbank Dental Laboratory in 1992 as the removable department manager and chief partial designer.

Jerry always had a passion for making Burbank Dental bigger and better. From the beginning he worked with Burbank Dental Lab President Tony Sedler, to enhance the quality of all of the dental restorations that Burbank Dental Lab produced. Jerry and Tony began to expand the clientele of the lab by exhibiting at some of the dental conventions across the country. Some of Jerry’s favorite stories are about working late in the evening on a Thursday to get work completed, then taking the red-eye to a convention destination, arriving at O’Dark Thirty, making a mad dash to the convention center where he and Tony had to talk their way into the closed building so that they could set up their booth on the day of the convention.

I was privileged to have Jerry as a convention co-worker for several years. That is where I learned that Jerry always makes friends wherever he goes, on a plane at midnight, on a convention floor, in a crowded restaurant, or just on the street. He also has a passion for great food of all kinds and can turn any meal into an event, a very handy guy to have around when you are making new relationships with potential clients.

Jerry became the General Manager of Burbank Dental Lab in 2001 and continued to be a leader at Burbank Dental, managing the day-to-day processes of the lab.

Jerry has been the catalyst for creating and maintaining Burbank’s ISO (Quality Management System), a rigorous certification process that entails both internal and independent external audits of our processes and products. One of his favorite achievements is having facilitated Burbank Dental Lab's earning and maintaining our status as a Certified Dental Laboratory (CDL). This is a recognition that is held by very few labs in the country and is further assurance of Burbank’s commitment to delivering the finest restorations possible.

Jerry is retiring to spend more time with his wife of 33 years, as they plan to take time to travel the southwest, take trips to Laughlin, Vegas, Chumash Casino, and of course spend time with family in So. California, and Louisiana.

Jerry’s presence at Burbank Dental Lab will be missed by everyone, but the effect of his influence for the past 25 years will leave an enduring mark on what Burbank Dental Laboratory stands for, for many years to come.