Dr Bill Dorfman
If he’s not busy transforming the smiles of Hollywood’s most famous like Hugh Jackman, Eva Longoria, Katy Perry, Britney Spears and The Osbournes, rest assured Dr Bill Dorfman is busy doing something else that’s just as impressive. He has appeared on the hit shows “Oprah,” “Extreme Makeover” and “The Doctors”, written a “New York Times” bestselling book, “Billion Dollar Smile,” and launched a charity for students, the LEAP Foundation.
Dr Dorfman with Kelly Osbourne
‘America’s Dentist’, one of the only accredited Los Angeles-based Fellows in the prestigious American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, explains to Roula Allam about the importance of the universal language of kindness and how the team in his practice, Century City Aesthetic Dentistry, create the perfect personalised set of pearly whites. Dorfman, a health and fitness enthusiast, also describes how they go about making a timely and pleasant treatment plan for any international patients.
You are known as the Hollywood ‘Smile King’. It must feel good to do work that helps encourage people to smile more!
It does, your smile is so important, it cannot only enhance your appearance but it shows you are happy, healthy and to a certain degree well off.
As well as making them look younger and feel better, how does having a super, natural looking smile help patients?
A beautiful, natural-looking smile gives people confidence and makes them feel like they "fit-in" socially.
Dr Dorfman with Usher
You use a variety of cosmetic techniques like teeth whitening, porcelain veneers and tooth-coloured fillings to create those beautiful smiles. Can you tell us more about some of the cutting-edge cosmetic dentistry you use?
One of the things we do in our clinic is to have a ceramist from the lab there when we place the new teeth. This gives us the ability to make the teeth as natural as possible through a process called Custom Staining. Basically this means hand painting unique colours on the new teeth to make them look as natural as possible.
What about the exclusive sedation dentistry you offer?
We offer many types of sedation from light sedation, where you just feel relaxed and are still awake, to full sedation, where we bring in an anaesthesiologist to do hospital type sedation.
How does it benefit patients and how safe is it?
Sedation dentistry enables patients who would never go to the dentist, because of fear, to have their treatment comfortably. Using a board-certified anaesthesiologist makes this VERY safe.
How do you go about personalising each smile to make your patients’ dreams come true?
We spend a lot of time asking the patient what they want. Then we choose a colour and finally, while we make the new teeth, we have custom temporaries that are a close replica of what we will have as the final product. Essentially, it is a ‘trial smile’.
Dr Dorfman's book
Wedding season is approaching and I’m sure you know brides are willing to do just about anything for that perfect smile on their big day. Do you have special packages for people coming from abroad to see you?
We do not have a special or specific ‘package’, but we do deliver special care to everyone who comes from abroad. We see many international patients and because of our relationship with our lab, we are able to work much faster than most dentists, without sacrificing quality. When we have an international patient it is helpful if we can get current X-rays, models and photos in advance. With these we are able to give our patients a more accurate assessment of how long we will need them for as well as provide a breakdown of costs and different treatment options. We also prioritise the treatment of our international patients and work around anything else they may have planned while in Los Angeles. Further, we have our own in-house lab technician who does custom finishing, giving us the most natural results. Finally, we care for our patients from abroad on a very personal level, such as arranging for a staff member to pick them up and drop them off at their hotel, if they are travelling alone, before and after a treatment.
Do you treat patients while you are in the Gulf?
I only treat patients in my clinic, in Los Angeles. So much of what I do is with a dental lab that I cannot do the same type for work without my lab.
Although you’re America’s smile expert, you work on other aspects of dentistry in your practice as well don’t you?
Yes, we are a full service dental office. We do everything from cleanings, to implants, fillings and ZOOM! Teeth whitening.
You actually founded a company that distributes superior tooth-whitening, oral hygiene and aesthetic dental products like ZOOM!, Day White, Nite White and Breath Rx. Can we find them anywhere in the Gulf or order them?
Yes, in fact, I’ve seen them in Jeddah! If you go online you can easily find them.
As the artist behind many amazing celebrity smiles you became somewhat of a star yourself. Do you enjoy going on TV?
The part I love most is being able to show people at home what can be done. It is an amazing educational process!
You are also a writer, philanthropist, fitness enthusiast and father. How do you find time to fit it all in, (while still smiling of course)?
Honestly, I have a lot of help. I am surrounded by great people all the time! I am also very passionate about everything that I do and feel blessed to have such incredible opportunities, such as the ability to help high school and college students through my non-profit, LEAP Foundation. It is a motivational, educational leadership programme for students through a yearly one-week programme that is held at UCLA. We have over 500 students who attend from around the world. To find out how to donate or get involved, you can go to: www.LEAPFoundation.com for more information.
