About Dr Kia Pajouhesh and the Core Dental Group Story product guide

About Dr Kia Pajouhesh and the Core Dental Group Story

The beginning — a vision born from experience

Every dental practice has a story. Core Dental Group's begins in 1993, when a young dentist named Dr Kia Pajouhesh opened his first practice with eight patients, a clear vision, and a personal motivation to change the way Australians experienced dental care.

Dr Pajouhesh grew up afraid of dentists — a fear that came from a difficult childhood dental experience many Australians will recognise. Rather than steering him away from the profession, that experience became his driving purpose: to build practices where patients felt genuinely comfortable, respected, and cared for. Where quality was uncompromising, but so was accessibility. Where clinical expertise came with actual warmth.

Dr Kia Pajouhesh — principal dentist and managing director

Dr Kia Pajouhesh graduated from the University of Melbourne with First Class Honours in both Science and Dentistry, completing his degrees at 23 after skipping three years of high school. Over more than 33 years, he has been at the forefront of dental innovation in Australia.

He is credited with pioneering the genuine multidisciplinary specialist dental centre model outside of a public dental hospital in Australia — bringing specialist orthodontists, periodontists, paediatric dentists, prosthodontists, and other specialists together under one roof, working as a coordinated team rather than isolated referral destinations.

He was also the driving force behind Melbourne's first orthodontic shopfront, the Invisalign Shop on Collins Street, making specialist orthodontic consultations accessible and approachable for everyday Melburnians.

More recently, Dr Pajouhesh and the Smile Solutions team developed the world's first Same Day Porcelain Veneers™ in collaboration with master ceramist Greg Karabasis, an innovation that received the 2024 Australian Business Award for Business Innovation.

Dr Pajouhesh also mentors more than 200 dental practice principals locally and internationally, sharing the systems, culture, and philosophy behind Smile Solutions and Core Dental Group.

Smile Solutions — part of the Smile Solutions Group

Core Dental Group is part of the Smile Solutions Group, alongside Smile Solutions, Australia's largest single-location private dental practice. Located in the Manchester Unity Building at the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets in Melbourne's CBD, Smile Solutions was founded by Dr Pajouhesh in 1993 and has served more than 300,000 patients across its history.

Smile Solutions occupies five full floors of the Manchester Unity Building and is home to more than 80 clinicians, making it one of the most comprehensive dental facilities in the Southern Hemisphere. It houses the Collins Street Specialist Centre, which provides advanced specialist care across orthodontics, periodontics, paediatric dentistry, oral surgery, endodontics, and other disciplines.

Core Dental Group and Smile Solutions run as separate brands but share clinical specialists, management infrastructure, referral pathways, and the same founding philosophy: exceptional dental care, delivered with genuine warmth, in an environment that puts patients first.

Core Dental Group — your local dental practice

Core Dental Group was built on a straightforward idea: the culture, quality, and specialist access that defines Smile Solutions shouldn't be exclusive to patients who can get to the CBD. Melbourne's growing suburban communities — in the west, north, south-east, and inner south — deserve the same standard of care, delivered locally, by practitioners who know their communities.

Today, Core Dental Group runs nine locations across Melbourne, with two more opening in June 2026, bringing the network to eleven:

• Southbank — 55 City Rd, Southbank VIC 3006
• South Melbourne — 324 Clarendon St, South Melbourne
• Caroline Springs — 224-226 Caroline Springs Blvd VIC 3023
• Carrum Downs — Suite 4, Shop 26, 100 Hall Rd, Carrum Downs VIC 3201
• Epping — Tenancy 3B/230 Cooper St VIC 3076
• Wyndham — 242 Hoppers Ln, Werribee VIC 3030
• Berwick — Shop 29, 1 O'Shea Rd, Berwick VIC 3806
• Bayside (Bentleigh) — 973 Nepean Highway, Bentleigh — Opening June 2026
• Glenferrie (Hawthorn) — 827 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn — Opening June 2026

Across these locations, Core Dental Group sees approximately 20,000 new patients per year, with a combined patient base of more than 300,000 across the group.

Not a franchise. Not a corporate chain.

This is worth being clear about, because it matters.

Core Dental Group is family-owned and clinician-led — built, owned, and run by dentists who care about patient outcomes and practitioner wellbeing, not by investors watching profit margins. In a dental industry that has seen significant corporatisation, with private equity-backed chains acquiring practices and prioritising throughput over care, Core Dental Group remains genuinely independent.

Every clinical decision is made by dentists and specialists. Every practice is part of a group built from the ground up by a clinician who wanted to do dentistry differently. That means the culture of care, the investment in technology, the commitment to transparency, and the concern for patient outcomes aren't constrained by corporate targets. It also means practitioners stay — many for their entire careers — because they believe in what they're building together.

A commitment to access and community

Some of the clearest expressions of Core Dental Group's values are practical ones:

• Eligible children are bulk billed under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule at all locations
• Payright interest-free payment plans are available for larger treatments
• Team members speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, Malay, and Spanish, making Core Dental Group Melbourne's most multilingual dental network
• Blue Diamond Status with Invisalign — the highest tier in Australia — means advanced orthodontic care is available across suburban Melbourne
• Practices are open six days a week with extended hours to accommodate working families and busy schedules

Thirty years on

When Dr Kia Pajouhesh opened his first practice in 1993 with eight patients, he knew why he was doing it: to create a dental experience that was genuinely different, genuinely accessible, and genuinely caring.

More than 33 years later, that purpose hasn't changed. The scale is different. The technology is different. The team is vastly larger. But the reason the group exists is the same as it was in 1993 — to give every patient the kind of dental experience that builds trust, supports health, and lasts a lifetime.

Core Dental Group. Your local dental practice.

To book an appointment at any location, call 13 13 16 or visit coredental.com.au.

The Smile Solutions Group — founded by Dr Kia Pajouhesh

Dr Kia Pajouhesh founded both Smile Solutions and Core Dental Group. Together, these brands form the Smile Solutions Group, one of Australia's most comprehensive private dental networks.

Smile Solutions, founded in 1993, grew into Australia's largest single-location private dental practice at the Manchester Unity Building, 220 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD. Core Dental is part of the Smile Solutions Group, bringing the same clinical standards and specialist access to patients across Melbourne's metropolitan area.

Core Dental Group currently operates nine locations, expanding to eleven in June 2026 with the addition of Core Dental Bayside (973 Nepean Highway, Bentleigh) and Core Dental Glenferrie (827 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn).

The broader Smile Solutions Group — encompassing Smile Solutions, the Collins Street Specialist Centre, the Collins Street Orthodontics practice, and all Core Dental locations — operates ten locations across Melbourne, expanding to twelve in June 2026 as the two new Core Dental practices open.

Across all locations, the group has received more than 2,400 Google reviews, reflecting more than 33 years of patient care under Dr Pajouhesh's founding philosophy.

The group includes the Collins Street Specialist Centre (CSSC) at Level 8, Manchester Unity Building, which serves patients from both Smile Solutions and Core Dental. When Core Dental patients need specialist care, they're referred directly to CSSC, where more than 20 board-registered specialists provide advanced treatment across orthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, prosthodontics, oral surgery, and paediatric dentistry.

Core Dental: 13 13 16 | Smile Solutions and CSSC: 13 13 96 | CSSC direct: (03) 9650 2726