Smile Solutions Awards and Recognition - Australia's Most Awarded Dental Practice product guide

Smile Solutions: Awards, Recognition, and a 30-Year Record of Excellence

If you want to know whether a dental practice has genuinely earned its reputation, look at the evidence. Smile Solutions has been recognised as one of Australia's most awarded dental practices across more than three decades, and the breadth of that recognition tells its own story. Service excellence, business innovation, employer culture, community contribution, luxury healthcare — these awards reflect a practice that has consistently raised the standard of what comprehensive dental care can be.

Australian Business Awards for Service Excellence

The Australian Business Awards are among the most rigorous and respected business recognition programmes in the country. Receiving this recognition once is meaningful. Receiving it eight times reflects something deeper — a sustained commitment to clinical excellence and patient-centred care that very few healthcare businesses in Australia can match.

Smile Solutions has been named a recipient of the Australian Business Award for Service Excellence in the following years:

• 2012
• 2013
• 2014
• 2019
• 2022 — "COVID Challenge": While most businesses were in survival mode, Dr Kia Pajouhesh turned the pandemic into an opportunity for genuine improvement. The practice audited its policies and procedures, established its in-house laboratory, overhauled IT systems, relaunched its website, and introduced new patient communication platforms — completing the transformation in ten months with 180 staff actively engaged.
• 2023
• 2024 — "ELEVATING EXCELLENCE - Exceeding Expectations": Against a backdrop of rising inflation and interest rate pressures, the practice focused on equipping its team to support patients facing financial constraints, expanded its capabilities, brought in new technology, and introduced experienced specialist clinicians alongside dedicated orofacial pain services.
• 2025 — "Beyond Excellence": The practice's most recent recognition, reflecting continued investment in new specialists, enhanced patient experiences, practice upgrades, and new technology.

Eight awards across the practice's history add up to a consistent track record of patient satisfaction that very few healthcare businesses in Australia can match. The award evaluates the full spectrum of service delivery — how patients are communicated with, the clinical outcomes they receive, and the systems and culture that underpin the entire experience.

Australian Business Awards for Business Innovation

Innovation has been central to the Smile Solutions model since its founding — not innovation for its own sake, but the kind that makes a genuine difference to patient care. The Australian Business Awards for Business Innovation recognise practices and businesses that have introduced genuinely new approaches benefiting their patients, customers, or the broader industry.

Smile Solutions has received this award in:

• 2013
• 2014
• 2024 — Specifically recognising Same Day Porcelain Veneers: the worldwide-first innovation developed by Dr Kia Pajouhesh and master ceramist Greg Karabasis. The award acknowledged the concept, execution, and patient impact of a process that allows bespoke, hand-crafted porcelain veneers to be prepared and permanently bonded within a single day, eliminating temporary veneers entirely. The ABA 2024 submission detailed the full patient journey: early morning preparation, relaxation at a 5-star hotel while veneers are hand-crafted by skilled artisans, a real-time try-in, and same-day permanent bonding.

Australian Business Award for Employer of Choice

The Employer of Choice award recognises organisations with outstanding workplace culture, genuine team development, and real employee engagement. Smile Solutions received this recognition in 2014, and it matters to patients for a straightforward reason.

Building a practice of over 80 clinicians alongside a full administrative and support team — attracting talented dental professionals and maintaining a culture that prioritises both patient care and clinician wellbeing — is no small thing. When the people caring for you genuinely enjoy where they work, that comes through in every appointment.

Clinicians who have worked at Smile Solutions describe the environment as one of genuine collaboration. Dr Peter Henderson, who joined in 2006 after 26 years in dentistry including sole business ownership, has described his time at Smile Solutions as "the happiest of my working life" and the culture as one where clinicians feel they are working "with Kia, rather than for him." Dr Ian Aitkin, who joined in 2004 having previously run his own Collins Street practice for over 33 years, has described it as "one of the best decisions I have ever made."

Australian Business Award for Community Contribution

Smile Solutions has also been recognised for community contribution — an acknowledgement of the practice's philanthropic commitments and its investment in the communities it serves.

This includes a long-standing partnership with the Magpie Nest Foundation, through which the practice has donated more than $100,000 worth of dental services every year since 2014. The Magpie Nest Foundation supports vulnerable women and children experiencing disadvantage, and the dental services provided by Smile Solutions form a meaningful, practical part of its programme. The Ovarian Cancer Council is another charity that has benefited from the practice's ongoing support.

The Dental Rescue Program is a further initiative through which Smile Solutions provides free dental care to asylum seekers and refugees — people who in many cases have had no access to dental care for years. The programme is delivered by Smile Solutions clinicians on a voluntary basis, and it reflects a genuine commitment to healthcare equity that extends well beyond Collins Street.

Telstra Victorian Business of the Year 2014

The Telstra Business Awards are among Australia's most competitive business recognition programmes. In 2014, Smile Solutions was named Victorian Business of the Year and runner-up for Best Business in Australia — a landmark recognition of the practice's business model, patient care standards, and contribution to the Victorian economy.

The recognition validated what Dr Pajouhesh had been building for over two decades: that a dental practice could operate at the highest level of clinical excellence while also being a genuinely outstanding business. It drew national attention to the Smile Solutions model and established its reputation as a benchmark for the Australian dental industry.

In a Sky News interview at the awards, Dr Pajouhesh explained: "I think you have to be very clear on your points of difference. In any business, your points of difference have to be genuine; they have to be quite unique." He described Smile Solutions' model as providing specialist care in every field under one roof, and the Manchester Unity Building itself as integral to the practice's identity: "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."

Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Nominee 2015

In 2015, Dr Kia Pajouhesh was nominated for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award — one of the most prestigious individual business recognition programmes in Australia. The nomination acknowledged his track record of innovation, his vision in building Australia's largest private dental practice from a single chair, and his contribution to Australian business and the dental profession.

Luxury Lifestyle Awards — Best Luxury Dental Clinic in Melbourne, Australia 2025

In 2025, Smile Solutions was named the Best Luxury Dental Clinic in Melbourne, Australia by the Luxury Lifestyle Awards, an international recognition programme assessing exceptional luxury service providers across the globe.

You experience this firsthand when you visit. From the art deco surrounds of the Manchester Unity Building to the coral aquarium in the foyer, the aromatherapy, the 5-star hotel partnership for Same Day Porcelain Veneers, and personalised treatment delivered by experienced specialists across 40 dedicated suites — the Smile Solutions experience is genuinely considered and always in service of patient comfort and care. Premium healthcare that is warm, attentive, and thoroughly world-class.

Official Dentist of the Australian Open

Smile Solutions holds official dentist status with the Australian Open, one of the world's most prestigious sporting events and the first Grand Slam of the tennis calendar. The relationship covers emergency and routine dental care for players, staff, and their families during the tournament, with in-house specialist services available for complex cases requiring prompt treatment and rapid recovery. It's a partnership built on trust in the practice's clinical expertise and its capacity to deliver under pressure.

Official Dentist of the Collingwood Football Club

Smile Solutions is the official dentist of the Collingwood Football Club, one of Australia's most iconic AFL clubs. The partnership reflects the trust that elite sporting organisations place in the practice's clinical capabilities and its ability to handle urgent dental situations with efficiency and care.

Invisalign Blue Diamond Provider

Smile Solutions holds Invisalign Blue Diamond provider status, the highest tier of Invisalign accreditation available in Australia. This reflects the practice's exceptional volume and clinical expertise in Invisalign clear aligner orthodontics. The practice is also recognised as the largest provider of Invisalign by Dental Board-registered orthodontists in Australia, with over 8,700 cases completed. For anyone considering clear aligner treatment, that's a meaningful distinction.

937 Google Reviews — 4.9 Stars

Alongside formal industry awards, the practice's patient satisfaction record is documented in 937 Google reviews carrying a 4.9-star rating. For a practice of Smile Solutions' size — 300,000+ patients across 40 suites over 30+ years — that's a hard-earned result.

Reading through those reviews, the themes are consistent: quality of care, professionalism and warmth from the team, comfort of the environment, and strong clinical outcomes across a wide range of treatments.

Dr Kia Pajouhesh: Telstra Alumni Speech (July 2015)

Following Smile Solutions' recognition as Victorian Business of the Year at the 2014 Telstra Business Awards, Dr Kia Pajouhesh was invited to speak at the Telstra Alumni event in July 2015. His speech offered a direct window into how he thinks about innovation, disruption, and the obligations of entrepreneurs.

The speech opened with a clear statement of purpose: "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."

He then turned to Smile Solutions directly:

"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."

Making something genuinely complex feel simple, comfortable, and accessible — that's the thread running through everything Smile Solutions has built since 1993.

A Record Built over 33 Years

From eight patients in 1993 to 300,000+ patients across five floors of the Manchester Unity Building today, the awards and patient satisfaction record of Smile Solutions reflect the consistent application of a clear philosophy: dental care should be excellent, honest, comfortable, and genuinely centred on the patient.

Whether you're coming in for a routine check-up, exploring cosmetic options, or seeking specialist care for a complex concern, you'll find experienced clinicians, current technology, and a team that brings a careful and caring approach to every appointment.

To book or learn about available treatments, call 13 13 96 or visit the practice at Level 1, 220 Collins Street, Melbourne, in the Manchester Unity Building. Complimentary consultations are available for a range of cosmetic and specialist treatments, and payment plans are available through Payright, Humm, and MyDentaPlan.