Smile Studio – Wellington CBD
According to our open methodology, this clinic scored 64.4/100 for transparency, reputation, service accessibility, and digital visibility.
Overall rank: #13 of 21 ranked clinics · Last checked: 24 September 2026
64.4/100
Positions by Rating Profile
- Overall Transparency & Trust#1364.4/100
- Best for Expats#1460.5/100
- Best for Dental Implants#1459.5/100
- Best for Emergency Dental Care#1463.5/100
- Best Price Transparency#1643.2/100
- Best English-speaking Clinics#1664.2/100
- Best for Families / Childrennot ranked
- Sleep Dentistry (GA / deep sedation)not ranked
General Anaesthesia & Deep Sedation
Whether the clinic documents treatment under general anaesthesia or deep / twilight sedation — "sleep dentistry", where the patient is asleep and unaware (does not feel, see, or hear the procedure). Ordinary conscious sedation, where the patient stays awake and responsive, does not count here. This is informational and does not affect the transparency score.
- ✗ General anaesthesia / deep sedation (sleep dentistry) — No general anaesthesia or deep sedation documented The clinic’s own sedation page offers local anaesthetic and “intravenous conscious sedation”; general anaesthesia is explicitly a referral (“for some patients, a referral to have a general anaesthetic for their dental procedure may be the best option”). [s3]
Summary
Wellington CBD (The Terrace) cosmetic and general practice founded by Dr Oliver Ferry and Dr Raymond Joe, with named dentists Dr Yeephang Wong and Dr Sam Thompson.
Strengths
- Information Transparency: 20 of 20 points.
- No red flags identified in public sources.
Weaknesses
- Price Transparency: 0 of 15 verifiable points (missing: prices or price ranges published; cleaning price listed; filling price listed; crown price listed; implant price listed; consultation price listed; x-ray / imaging price listed)
Score Breakdown
Every criterion below is scored from public sources. ✓ verified yes · ✗ verified no / not found · ◐ partial · ? unverified (scores 0, not a negative finding).
Information Transparency
20 / 20
Whether basic facts about the clinic - its team, premises, services, and location - are publicly verifiable.
| ✓ | Has a working website [s1] | 4/4 |
| ✓ | Dentist names listed Our Team page names Dr Oliver Ferry, Dr Sam Thompson and Dr Yeephang Wong, each titled “Dentist/dental surgeon” with individual bios. [s2] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Dentist specializations listed Team page states qualifications (BDS, University of Otago; Diploma in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics; Bachelor of Oral Health); the sedation page names Dr Oliver Ferry and Dr Sam Thompson as members of the NZ Society of Sedation in Dentistry. [s2] [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Real clinic photos The team page opens with a group photograph of the practice’s own staff outside the building and gives each named clinician an individual portrait. [s2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Service list published Nav: Wellington Dentist (general), Cosmetic Dentist Wellington. [s1] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clear contact details [s1] [gmp1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | English website version [s1] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Address and map published [s1] [gmp1] | 2/2 |
Price Transparency
0 / 15
Whether patients can estimate costs before visiting. Published price ranges count; exact prices are not required.
| ✗ | Prices or price ranges published Site discusses costs only as something covered at the initial consultation, no published figures [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen] | 0/3 |
| ✗ | Cleaning price listed Hygienist page has no price [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-2] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Filling price listed No filling price on any checked page [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-3] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Crown price listed No crown price on any checked page [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-4] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Implant price listed Implants page has no price [s4] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Consultation price listed No consultation fee found; costs are only discussed at the visit [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-6] | 0/2 |
| ✗ | X-ray / imaging price listed X-rays are mentioned but not priced [s4] | 0/2 |
Reputation & Reviews
14.5 / 20
Public review signals. The Google rating is adjusted with a Bayesian prior (rating 4.0, weight 25) so a 5.0 from a handful of reviews does not outrank a 4.8 from hundreds.
| ✓ | Google rating (Bayesian-adjusted) Automated Google Maps place lookup, re-read today: a round 5.0 across 63 reviews, star histogram 1★ 0 / 2★ 0 / 3★ 0 / 4★ 0 / 5★ 63. [gmp1] [gmp2] | 6/6 |
| ◐ | Google review volume [gmp1] | 1.5/3 |
| ✓ | Review recency Newest review rendered on the place page is a month old (further reviews at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 months). Only star-rated first-person reviews were counted: owner replies and Google Business Posts render in the same record with their own age stamp and were excluded. [gmp2] | 3/3 |
| ✓ | Clinic responds to reviews Six of the seven star-rated reviews rendered on the clinic’s Google place page carry a dated owner response (owner replies and Business Posts excluded from the denominator). [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | No recurring complaints The star histogram read on the clinic’s Google place page on 2026-09-10 has no review below five stars (5★ 63 of 63), so there is no repeated complaint to find. [gmp2] | 2/2 |
| ? | No suspicious review patterns | 0/2 |
| ✗ | Active Facebook presence Facebook searches by its name with the city, by the group's name with the city and by its phone number found no page of the clinic [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-17] [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-18] | 0/1 |
| ✗ | TripAdvisor presence No TripAdvisor listing found; site and GBP do not link one [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-5] [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-10] | 0/0.5 |
| ✗ | Other review platforms No profile found on WhatClinic, Dental Departures, Bookimed or Trustpilot (checked 2026-10-01). [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-15] [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-platforms] [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-platforms-2] [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-platforms-3] | 0/0.5 |
Medical Infrastructure
11.5 / 15
The range of publicly documented equipment and services. This measures documented availability, not clinical quality.
| ✓ | On-site X-ray Own implants page documents X-ray use [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-11] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | CBCT (3D imaging) Own New Patients page documents CBCT imaging as part of the initial exam [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-14] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Implantology Dedicated implants page; the sedation page cites “placement of implants” among the procedures it covers. [s4] [s3] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Orthodontics Dedicated orthodontics page. [s5] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Oral surgery Sedation page: conscious IV sedation “for longer and more complex procedures, such as placement of implants and wisdom tooth surgery”. [s3] | 2/2 |
| ? | Pediatric dentistry | 0/1.5 |
| ✓ | Emergency care Contact page: “EMERGENCY APPOINTMENTS: Contact us at either of the numbers above.” [s6] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ? | Works with international patients | 0/2 |
Communication & Service
5 / 10
How easy it is to contact the clinic, get answers, and book - especially for international patients.
| ✗ | WhatsApp / LINE available Contact page fully read; a contact form and phone only [s6] | 0/2 |
| ? | Response speed | 0/1.5 |
| ✓ | English spoken [s1] | 2.5/2.5 |
| ✓ | Pre-visit consultation possible Site-wide online booking button and a contact form [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-12] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ✓ | Clear service explanations Service pages explain the treatment's purpose and benefit, not just its name [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-13] | 1/1 |
| ✗ | Convenient opening hours The clinic’s Google place page, read in a browser on 2026-09-10, publishes Monday–Thursday 8:00am–5:00pm, Friday 8:00am–3:00pm and closed at weekends: no evening and no weekend opening. (The clinic’s own website publishes no hours at all.) [gmp2] | 0/1.5 |
AI & Search Visibility
7 / 10
Whether the clinic is discoverable when patients search - including via AI assistants. Checked with fixed queries: "best dentist New Zealand", "English speaking dentist New Zealand", "dental implants New Zealand", "emergency dentist New Zealand", "New Zealand dental clinic for expats".
| ✓ | Mentioned for: best dentist New Zealand Ranked #5 (own domain) for “best dentist Wellington New Zealand”. [av1] | 1/1 |
| ✓ | Mentioned for: English speaking dentist New Zealand Ranked #1 (own domain, /our-team/) for “English speaking dentist Wellington”. [av2] | 1/1 |
| ✗ | Mentioned for: dental implants New Zealand Not present in the top web results for "dental implants Wellington, New Zealand" on 2026-09-24. [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-7] | 0/1 |
| ✗ | Mentioned for: emergency dentist New Zealand Not present in the top web results for "emergency dentist Wellington, New Zealand" on 2026-09-24. [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-8] | 0/1 |
| ✗ | Mentioned for: New Zealand dental clinic for expats Not present in the top web results for "Wellington, New Zealand dental clinic for expats" on 2026-09-24. [smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-9] | 0/1 |
| ✓ | Structured data on website Organization schema present sitewide [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
| ✓ | Google indexing quality [av2] | 2/2 |
| ✓ | Dedicated service pages [s1] | 1.5/1.5 |
Ranking leaders in AI answers
The queries above are this index's own check. The three leading clinics have also been measured in full: how often ChatGPT and Gemini name them when a patient asks them to recommend a dentist.
- #1Wellington Dentists50.4 of 100View report →
- #2Greenhithe Dental Boutique19.1 of 100View report →
- #2Christchurch Boutique Dental53.8 of 100View report →
Measured by Ansmeter, 8 October 2026 – 9 October 2026. Ansmeter is an affiliated service. Its figure is not part of this rating and does not affect positions — scores change only when public data changes.
Licensing & Credentials
Whether the clinic publishes its operating licence and the dentists working there together with their professional licence numbers. A verified “not published” is recorded as a red flag; data we have not checked yet is shown as unverified and carries no penalty.
Clinic operating licence: not checked against public sources yet — unverified, no penalty
Dentists & professional licences
| Dentist | Specialization | Licence No. |
|---|---|---|
| Dr Oliver Ferry [reg0] | Implants and intravenous conscious sedation since 2005 (BDS, University of Otago, 1984); member, NZ Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Australian Osseointegration Society and NZ Society for Sedation; English and French | not verified |
| Dr Sam Thompson [reg0] | Surgical wisdom-tooth removal, preventive and minimal-intervention dentistry (BDS, University of Otago, 2013; hospital maxillofacial surgical team, Auckland) | not verified |
| Dr Yeephang Wong [reg0] | Orthodontics and implantology (BDS with credit, University of Otago, 2012; Postgraduate Diploma in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics, London) | not verified |
| Dr Raymond Joe [reg0] [s2] | Restorative and family dentistry, 20+ years (member, NZ Dental Association since 1993; inaugural member, NZ Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, 2005) | not verified |
Dentists are named; their licence numbers have not been checked against public sources yet — unverified, no penalty.
Red Flags
No red flags identified in the public sources we reviewed.
Data We Could Not Verify
- Reputation & Reviews: No suspicious review patterns
- Medical Infrastructure: Pediatric dentistry
- Medical Infrastructure: Works with international patients
- Communication & Service: Response speed
Unverified items score 0 points but are not treated as negative findings. If you can document any of them, please send a correction.
Contact Information
| Website | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/ |
|---|---|
| Phone | +64 4 472 7826 |
| Google Maps | Map listing |
| Address | Ground Floor, 155 The Terrace, Wellington Central, Wellington 6011, New Zealand |
Contact details are provided for identification only and may change; verify with the clinic directly.
Sources
| ID | Source | What it supports | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| s1 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/ | JSON-LD types found across all 13 pages in the site menu include Organization, alongside WebSite/WebPage/BreadcrumbList page-type schema | 2026-09-24 |
| s2 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/our-team/ | Named team page with bios | 2026-09-10 |
| gmp1 | https://www.google.com/search?tbm=map&hl=en&gl=nz&q=Smile%20Studio%… | Google Maps automated lookup: rating, review count, geo, address, phone, hours | 2026-09-10 |
| reg0 | https://dcnz.org.nz/practitioners | DCNZ statutory register (reCAPTCHA-gated) and HealthCERT scope (our registry research) | 2026-09-10 |
| av1 | search:best dentist Wellington New Zealand | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-10 |
| av2 | search:English speaking dentist Wellington | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-10 |
| av3 | search:dental implants Wellington | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-10 |
| av4 | search:emergency dentist Wellington | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-10 |
| av5 | search:Wellington dental clinic for expats | (the five canonical city queries) | 2026-09-10 |
| s3 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/dental-sedation/ | Sedation page: conscious IV sedation, implant and wisdom-tooth surgery, dentist credentials | 2026-09-10 |
| s4 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/implants/ | X-rays referenced in the implants treatment process; no price anywhere on the 12-page site; none of the 13 pages in the site menu (the site publishes no sitemap) carries a price figure of any kind | 2026-09-24 |
| s5 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/orthodontics/ | Orthodontics service page | 2026-09-10 |
| s6 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/contact/ | Contact page carries a contact form and phone numbers; no WhatsApp/LINE | 2026-09-24 |
| gmp2 | https://www.google.com/maps?cid=17595204772144970494 | Google Maps place page read again automatically on 2026-09-10 (two-step /maps?cid= → /maps/preview/place): name, address, phone, rating, review count, star histogram, review dates and owner responses | 2026-09-10 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/new-patients/ | "During your first consult, we will discuss your treatment and care options, and answer any questions you may have, e.g. likely costs..." -- no figures published on the site; none of the 13 pages in the site menu (the site publishes no sitemap) carries a price figure of any kind | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-2 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/dental-hygienist-wellington/ | Dental Hygienist page read in full: no price; none of the 13 pages in the site menu (the site publishes no sitemap) carries a price figure of any kind | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-3 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/wellington-dentist/ | General Dentistry Services page read in full; no filling price; none of the 13 pages in the site menu (the site publishes no sitemap) carries a price figure of any kind | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-4 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/cosmetic-dentist-wellington/ | Cosmetic Dentist page read in full; no crown price; none of the 13 pages in the site menu (the site publishes no sitemap) carries a price figure of any kind | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-5 | https://www.tripadvisor.com/TypeAheadJson?action=API&query=Smile%20… | TripAdvisor's own typeahead search for "Smile Studio Wellington" returns no dental match | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-7 | search:dental implants Wellington, New Zealand | Web search on 2026-09-24: results 1–9 were citydentists.co.nz, supremedentalconcepts.co.nz, wellingtonperiodontics.co.nz, wellingtonoralsurgery.co.nz, welloral.co.nz, wellingtondental.co.nz, wellingtondentist.co.nz, thorndondental.co.nz and redentklinik.com; the clinic’s site and name were not among them. | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-8 | search:emergency dentist Wellington, New Zealand | Web search on 2026-09-24: results 1–9 were supremedentalconcepts.co.nz (x4), thorndondental.co.nz (x2), emergencydentists.nz, peninsuladental.co.nz and whdental.co.nz; the AI overview named Newtown Dental, Thorndon Dental Surgery, Supreme Dental Concepts and Peninsula Dental; the clinic’s site and name were not among them. | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-9 | search:Wellington, New Zealand dental clinic for expats | Web search on 2026-09-24: results 1–9 were lumino.co.nz, expatfocus.com, healthpoint.co.nz, healthnz.govt.nz, supremedentalconcepts.co.nz, whatclinic.com, otago.ac.nz, wellingtondental.co.nz and mtwellingtondentalcentre.co.nz; the AI overview named the NZDA directory, Health New Zealand and "The Wellington Dental Practice"; the clinic’s site and name were not among them. | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-6 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/new-patients/ | New Patients page describes the first consultation in detail with no fee figure; none of the 13 pages in the site menu (the site publishes no sitemap) carries a price figure of any kind | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-10 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/ | All 13 pages in the site menu read; no TripAdvisor link found (no social links found at all) | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-11 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/implants/ | X-rays referenced as part of the implant assessment/treatment process | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-12 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/new-patients/ | "BOOK NOW" button present sitewide, plus a contact form on the contact page | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-13 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/implants/ | "Dental implants often provide the ideal solution for the replacement of one or more teeth. The main advantage is that the dental implants are secured and fitted to your jaw..." | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-14 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/new-patients/ | "Additional x-ray imaging may be required like Panorex or CBCT scans" | 2026-09-24 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-15 | https://www.whatclinic.com/dentists/new-zealand/wellington | WhatClinic: its Wellington dentist listing (1 page, 1 clinic shown), checked against its profile sitemaps (78 dentist profiles in New Zealand; the 30 not shown in its Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington listings opened one by one) and the profile addresses built from the clinic's name (not found), have no profile for Smile Studio and none at 155 The Terrace (checked 2026-10-01) | 2026-10-01 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-17 | https://www.facebook.com/ | Facebook searches on 2026-09-30 by its name with the city, by the group's name with the city and by its phone number: no page of the clinic | 2026-09-30 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-deepen-18 | https://www.smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz/ | Home page read 2026-09-30: no link to a Facebook page of the clinic | 2026-09-30 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-platforms | https://www.dentaldepartures.com/ | Dental Departures: its clinic search does not recognise New Zealand as a location and lists no clinic there (checked 2026-10-01) | 2026-10-01 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-platforms-2 | https://bookimed.com/clinics/country=new-zealand/ | Bookimed: its New Zealand clinic page has been removed (HTTP 410), and none of the 2,127 clinic pages in its clinic sitemap carries this clinic's name (checked 2026-10-01) | 2026-10-01 |
| smile-studio-wellington-cbd-platforms-3 | https://www.trustpilot.com/review/smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz | Trustpilot: no company page for smiledesigndentalgroup.co.nz (checked 2026-10-01) | 2026-10-01 |
Change History
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-09-30 | Searched Facebook for the clinic by its name with the city, by the group's name with the city and by its phone number; none of the searches found a page of the clinic, and its website links none. Recorded absence from Facebook. |
| 2026-09-29 | Confirmed that WhatClinic's Wellington dentist catalogue (2 practices, read in full) does not list the clinic, and that TripAdvisor's own search has no profile for it. |
| 2026-09-24 | Corrected on 2026-09-24: the new-patients page documents CBCT scans as part of the imaging a first examination may need. |
| 2026-09-24 | Corrected: other review-platform presence re-assessed on 2026-09-24 -- a Healthpoint directory entry is not a review platform, and no WhatClinic profile was found in the city catalogue, so presence is left unverified. |
| 2026-09-24 | Search visibility checked on 2026-09-24 for the three pending Wellington, New Zealand queries — "dental implants Wellington, New Zealand", "emergency dentist Wellington, New Zealand" and "Wellington, New Zealand dental clinic for expats": not present for "dental implants Wellington, New Zealand", "emergency dentist Wellington, New Zealand" and "Wellington, New Zealand dental clinic for expats". |
| 2026-09-24 | Re-read on 2026-09-24: the clinic's full website (new patients, general dentistry, implants, hygienist and contact pages) and its Google listing (default review view; the listing carries a perfect 5-star histogram at base 63), plus Healthpoint and TripAdvisor. Recorded: X-ray use documented on the implants page; an online booking button and contact form; procedures explained by their purpose, not just named; no WhatsApp/LINE; structured business data on the site; a Healthpoint directory listing under the clinic's registered name (Smile Design Dental Group); no TripAdvisor listing. All six prices checked (cleaning, filling, crown, implant, consultation, X-ray) are recorded as not published: the site treats cost as something discussed at the first visit, with no published figures. |
| 2026-09-10 | Checked by hand in a browser: opening hours read from the clinic’s own Google place page, the eight reviews shown checked for manipulation, team page read live (fourth dentist added, qualifications recorded, staff photographs confirmed). |
| 2026-09-10 | The verification pass adversarial verification: every cited URL re-opened, clinic /about, /team, /fees, /services and /contact pages read, Google place record read again automatically (rating, review count, star histogram, review dates, owner responses), AI-visibility citations re-checked against the AI-visibility record and the listicles it ranks. |
| 2026-09-10 | Initial data collection: clinic website (home, team), automated Google Maps lookup, DCNZ/HealthCERT registry conclusion applied, AI-visibility record canonical queries (three queries found off-target due to Wellington, FL/CO namesakes). |
A question or a correction?
Have a question, a suggestion, or a correction to this page? Get in touch — we read every message. Verified data corrections are reviewed against sources and applied with a public change-history entry.