Dr Kia Pajouhesh - On Innovation, Leadership, and Building Australia's Largest Dental Practice product guide

Smile Solutions: Innovation, Leadership, and the Obligation of Entrepreneurs

Dr Kia Pajouhesh has spent more than three decades building Smile Solutions into one of Australia's most recognised healthcare businesses. Along the way, he's developed a personal philosophy on innovation, leadership, and what entrepreneurs actually owe — a philosophy he shares freely with the dental profession and with business audiences well beyond dentistry.

On Innovation: Complexity Into Simplicity

Kia's definition of innovation is direct: "The most disruptive businesses are those that turn complexity into simplicity for the consumer. Innovation is the obligation of entrepreneurs."

He applies this consistently to the Smile Solutions model. Where most dental practices ask patients to navigate multiple providers, fragmented referrals, and disjointed care, Smile Solutions absorbs all of that and delivers something genuinely simple: comprehensive dental care, with experienced specialists in every field, coordinated under one roof.

"There is a common ingredient among all successful businesses," Kia explains. "You've taken on society's complexities, absorbed them, filtered them, and created simple, clear products and services."

The same thinking drove Same Day Porcelain Veneers, Smile Solutions' worldwide-first clinical innovation. The problem Kia identified was patient-centred and real: people spending two to three uncomfortable weeks in temporary veneers, returning for second appointments, managing chipping and sensitivity throughout. The solution he and master ceramist Greg Karabasis developed collapsed all of that into a single day. Preparation, hand-crafting, try-in, and permanent bonding — done.

On Competition: Learn to Climb

When describing the challenge of competing against large corporate dental groups — organisations with access to millions of patients and the resources to acquire hundreds of practices — Kia reaches for a vivid metaphor.

"When the wildebeests are charging through the gorge — learn to climb. Don't try to outrun them. Don't run alongside them. Climb above them."

At Smile Solutions, that climbing took the form of deliberate differentiation: a flagship practice in Melbourne's Manchester Unity Building; a multidisciplinary specialist model offering genuinely comprehensive care under one roof; investment in state-of-the-art technology; personalised service as the core differentiator; and a vertically integrated business connecting a CBD flagship with specialist services and a suburban network.

"We didn't compete on price — we competed on experience, service, and innovation."

It worked. Smile Solutions grew consistently over more than 30 years, adding the equivalent of a new practice to its scale every year during peak growth periods, even as large corporate competitors entered the Melbourne market with considerable force.

On Leadership: Delegation as a Discipline

One of Kia's most distinctive contributions to thinking about dental practice management is his approach to delegation — not as a convenience, but as a deliberate strategic programme grounded in clinical and operational experience.

"Over the first 10 years, I delegated myself out of clinical dentistry. That was a challenge. I reduced one session per year — starting with 10 sessions a week, and gradually stepping back until I transitioned into working on the business: project management, HR, accounts, and marketing. Over the next 10 years, I then delegated myself out of the administration side of the business."

Today, a dedicated department of around 25 people manages HR, accounts, legal, and business operations at Smile Solutions and the Core Dental Group. Kia's role has moved from clinician, to operator, to founder and visionary — each phase a considered choice.

"I sometimes refer to myself as Denny Crane — there's something quite liberating about being able to walk into your workplace and not be absolutely required for it to function."

This progression from hands-on practice to a business that runs on systems and culture is exactly what Kia teaches the 200+ dental practice principals he mentors across Australia and internationally.

On Culture: Working With, Not For

Long-tenured team members consistently describe the culture at Smile Solutions as one of genuine collaboration, mutual respect, and professional partnership.

Dr Peter Henderson, who joined in 2006 after 26 years in dentistry, says: "I feel very conscious of working with Kia, rather than for him. Kia is fair, direct and honest — there is no game-playing with this man. He truly wants to share his good fortune, and to be the catalyst for others who come under his umbrella to not only reach but surpass their potential."

Dr Ian Aitkin, who joined in 2004 after running his own Collins Street practice for over 30 years, says: "Kia understands each and every member of the team and ensures they achieve their individual goals as well as appreciating the needs of the whole practice."

Dr Mark Badcock, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, observes: "Kia's most successful leadership is his ability to identify and develop the strengths of his team on an individual basis, giving each individual the support and opportunity to contribute in their own unique way."

The 2014 Australian Business Award for Employer of Choice recognised this culture formally. The Telstra Victorian Business of the Year the same year recognised the model commercially. Together, they reflect something you'll notice the moment you walk through the doors of the Manchester Unity Building — a team that genuinely cares, for each other and for patients.

On Belief Systems: The Limits We Set for Ourselves

In talks to business audiences, Kia regularly challenges the belief systems that prevent professionals from achieving what's genuinely available to them.

"Your internal belief systems limit what you believe is possible for yourself," he explains. "We all carry these beliefs: work hard and save to become rich; study hard and you'll be wealthy; as businesses grow, service declines; selling is a dirty word. These beliefs shape outcomes."

Kia describes the gap between what professionals believe is achievable and what is actually possible as central to his own journey.

"I started mentoring before I was successful because I knew I would become successful. I used to tell people, 'One day I'll do well, and you'll wish you listened.' They didn't believe me at the time."

He encourages professionals to focus on similarities rather than differences — across industries, models, and approaches — because success in any business, he argues, comes from the same underlying principles: clear differentiation, genuine service, relentless innovation, and the courage to act on vision.

On Heritage: The Building as Identity

Kia's relationship with the Manchester Unity Building — one of Melbourne's most celebrated art deco heritage buildings, where Smile Solutions relocated in 2003 — goes well beyond location. It's personal, and it reflects the values that define the practice.

"It is a building which is very iconic to Melbourne, and as a single-location practice, the building feeds the business, and the business feeds the building."

Since arriving, Kia has invested significantly in restoring several of the building's most significant heritage spaces, working with Heritage Victoria, Rob Mills Architects, and Andronas Conservation Architects. The practice now occupies five entire floors plus the iconic tower.

"In 2003, none of my team really envisaged the journey that lay ahead. In the years that followed, I have been privileged to be involved in the refurbishment of some of the most significant heritage-listed spaces in this building — a building that holds a very special place in Melbourne's history."

The Manchester Unity Building is not simply where Smile Solutions operates. For Kia, it expresses what Smile Solutions represents: something built with care, restored rather than discarded, and made more beautiful over time.

On the Personal Success Formula

Between 2002 and 2003, Dr Kia Pajouhesh taught a series of seminars called the Personal Success Formula — a structured programme on thinking, decision-making, delegation, and goal setting that drew participants from dentistry, law, finance, and small business. The programme predated Smile Solutions's peak growth period and, in many ways, was the philosophy that drove it.

The core of the programme was a direct challenge to the thought patterns that hold professionals back.

"Unless you acknowledge the need for change, your past will be your future," he taught. "90% of today's thoughts are repeated thoughts from yesterday."

His definition of success, articulated in these seminars, is one of the clearest statements of his philosophy: "My definition of success is to do exactly what I want to do when I want to do it with no associated guilt or regret. To expect nothing of myself, others, or circumstance that falls outside the present tense and my present reality. To move forward through life with no fear of failure or fear of success, exuding inner confidence and delegating as many tasks that I don't cherish to those more equipped to fulfil those duties."

The programme covered delegation, perfectionism, goal setting, and what he described as "energy drains" — the patterns of interaction that deplete rather than build. Its influence extended well beyond his direct audience. Today, the same thinking underpins how he mentors the 200+ dental practice principals he works with across Australia and internationally.

"Wealthy people in financial trouble can bounce back, often in different fields — because they know how success feels," he explained in the preview seminar. "Happy people, after a stressful event, can bounce back more quickly — because they know how happy feels. Formula for success is crucial."

His Advice to Dental Professionals

Kia's message to dental professionals is direct, warm, and grounded in experience — the hallmarks of someone who has lived every word of his own advice.

"Focus on areas with higher barriers to entry: unique care, personalised service, differentiated products. Compete with corporate groups through strong core offerings. Compete with other models through exceptional service and care."

"When the wildebeests are charging — learn to climb, and climb quickly. Your ability to climb depends on your ability to challenge and change your belief systems."

"As Darwin described — this is natural selection. Modern business evolution favours the innovative and leaves behind the complacent, the procrastinators, and the fearful."

Dr Kia Pajouhesh is the founding principal and managing director of Smile Solutions, Australia's largest single-location private dental practice. He is the founder of Core Dental Group, creator of Same Day Porcelain Veneers, and mentor to over 200 dental practice principals across Australia and internationally. To book a consultation at Smile Solutions, call 13 13 96 or visit Level 1, 220 Collins Street, Melbourne.

Kia's Telstra Business of the Year Speech (July 2015)

At the Telstra Alumni event in July 2015, following Smile Solutions' recognition as Victorian Business of the Year, Dr Pajouhesh delivered a speech that distilled his philosophy of innovation into its essential form.

"I see innovation as an obligation on our free thinkers and our entrepreneurs — not a choice. Those businesses that have converted complex society issues into simple solutions for the individual are deemed the most disruptive."

Turning to Smile Solutions: "We reinvented the dental service model by housing under one roof 50 clinicians, including general dentists and board-registered specialists in every field of dentistry. Daily, we deal with the administrative, social, and system complexities that go with it — to ensure our patients are in the best hands and under one roof.

We took on the challenges of an almost derelict building with a Heritage listing. People said 'You're crazy, Kia!' And over a period of 11 years, provided 80,000 patients with the most serene ambiance for dental and surgical space. And we continue to research, source, finance and implement the most incredible technological services in dentistry — to provide our patients with the simple knowledge that they're receiving the best care available.

Smile Solutions is innovative and disruptive to its core foundations."

To book a consultation with our experienced specialists, call 13 13 96 or visit us at Level 1, 220 Collins Street, Melbourne, in the Manchester Unity Building.