Most children have little to smile about when confronted with a visit to the dentist's office.
But for the thousands of indigent children worldwide who have been fortunate enough to be treated by William P. Magee, Jr., DDS, MD , they have a great deal to smile about. Dr. Magee, along with his wife Kathy, who is a nurse and social worker, are the founders of Operation Smile , a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free reconstructive facial surgery to indigent children and young adults throughout the world. Operation Smile was born when Dr. Magee traveled to the Philippines with his wife in 1981. Although they treated 150 children with facial deformities, hundreds of others had to be turned away. When the Magees returned to the United States, they raised money, recruited medical volunteers, and gathered surgical supplies.