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Sandtonista Hero: Dr. Bill Dorfman
 Not many people would hop on a plane and travel halfway around the world for a charitable cause – particularly if they happen to be a celebrity with an endless list of other time-consuming projects. However, this is exactly what Dr Bill Dorfman – the dentist from the popular reality-TV show, Extreme Makeover, author of The Billion Dollar Smile and dentist to celebs like Zac Efron and Usher – did when he was asked to help the Tomorrow Trust, an organization started by Kim Feinberg (interviewed in the Dec./Jan. issue of Sandton magazine) to provide education for children orphaned by HIV/Aids.
“If you’ve dealt with people in Hollywood, you’ll know that you only deal with their agents,” laughs Feinberg, “so you can imagine my surprise when, as I was having dinner with my kids one night, the phone rang and it was someone saying that they were from Dr Dorfman’s office and that he wanted to speak to me. He said that he’d come out here for a week and that I must work him as hard as I can! He even paid for his own airfare.”
While in Johannesburg, Dorfman visited some of The Tomorrow Trust’s kids, held a dental seminar to raise funds for the organization and was the guest of honour at the Tomorrow Trust’s annual Women’s Forum.
“I grew up in Los Angeles and have done a lot of work with inner-city kids. I get so much gratification from working with kids,” the father of three says. “My company, Discus Dental, has raised close to $25-million for kids. When Kim contacted me I didn’t understand how things worked in South Africa. In the States, government aid is so much better. You would never have a nine- or 10-year-old kid being the head of a household. Many charities give hand-outs; the Tomorrow Trust gives young adults a chance to have a better life.”
Dorfman brought his two youngest daughters along on his trip. “Since my children were four or five they been all over the world with me. I provide free dentistry to kids in impoverished areas. My kids even get stuck in and help me out. One of my twins actually wants to be a dentist. It’s important to me that my kids learn to give back to the community,” he says proudly.
In addition to his dental aid-work around the globe, Dorfman has started a non-profit organization called the LEAP Foundation. “The idea behind it is to give high-school and college kids an opportunity to learn the skills that they need to be successful in life,” he explains. “One part of it is teaching young men how to be gentlemen. When I met with the kids in Kim’s group, I allowed the girls to stay. I told them, ‘If your guy doesn’t do this, get a better guy.’ When I asked them all how many of them had great male role models, only about six put up their hands.”
When asked whether he has ever found any of his famous patients intimidating, Dorfman smiles. “I think that as the dentist I’m usually the intimidating one! I don’t really get intimidated – I’m very comfortable and confident in what I do. I just don’t get caught up in all that. I didn’t even know that the first really famous person I worked on was famous. I had to be told by someone else that it was Esther Williams!”
Dorfman has an emphatic message for the people of South Africa: “The future of your country rests in your youth – you need to invest in them. There seems to be a culture here of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. You have to start doing something. It is your problem! If young men have no direction after they finish school, of course they’re going to get into trouble and involved in crime. They don’t just need money and food – they need a means to break the cycle of poverty.”
Details: LEAP Foundation, www.leapfoundationusa.org l The Tomorrow Trust, (011) 676-6389, www.tomorrow.org.za
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Sandtonista Hero: Dr. Bill Dorfman
Posted on: 20/05/2009
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Sandton Editor's Letter 22/01/2010
I spoke with my mom this week, who was
gearing up for another Northern Hemisphere
holiday season. The weather was cold and
grey, her mood a bit blue.
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