Aspen Dental
reviews and complaints

My mother went to Aspen Dental because she had no insurance and found they were cheaper. They are cheaper for a reason. She's had dentures since she was 14 years old, she's now 82. To make a long story short, she wasn't happy with the first pair they tried on her in the office because of the fit, so they had her come back in two weeks and they gave her the same pair, told her they were different, told her they'd fit better in a week or two and basically bullied her until she left with them. Since she had no dental work done for them, they should have fit her perfectly when she left. She was so upset that she refuses to go back. They made her feel *** and old. We are returning them and we will not be paying for them. She's going to go to our dentist. They are out for the money - stay away.

After following up with Amy at Aspen Dental Patient Satisfaction on 5/2/11, regarding being sent a bill for $172.40, she concurred that I do not owe them that amount and stated that I would receive a corrected statement/ledger...and they still have a credit amount for me. Amy today again said she will send the corrected ledger out to me as I have still not received one.
HOWEVER...my question regarding the denial of payment toward my permanent partial took an interesting turn. I was told by Amy on 5/2/10 that the payment request would be resubmitted to Ameritas (although she seemed certain that it would be denied after I told her the insurance company said the wrong code was submitted and there was no indication that they were being billed for a permanent/replacement partial and they received no information from Aspen Dental that I had a temporary partial prior to that and for how long).
After not hearing back from Aspen Dental or Ameritas, I again spoke to Amy at Aspen Dental patient satisfaction today 5/18/11 and she said payment request was resubmitted on 5/3/11 but again she was certain the insurance would again deny the permanent partial charge due to "frequency". I asked her to explain what frequency meant and she said my insurance covers a partial every 5 years. I explained to her that I was specifically told at the Mount Dora, Fl office that the first partial I rec'd was temporary and to be replaced after 6 months with the permanent partial. She tried to tell me that there is no difference between a temporary partial and a permanet partial but that after 6 months one would have to be replaced anyway after the gums have receded...would that not make the first one a temporary then? As a matter of fact Miss Schneider (Mt. Dora office) herself left me a voicemail message in January of 2011 requesting that I come in to get fitted for the PERMANENT partial. I went back in February for that.
In an email from Miss Samantha Fikes with Aspen Dental Patient Satisfaction back in November 2010, she stipulated that the permanent partial would NOT BE BILLED to my insurance company until after it was placed sometime after the 6 month period. I quote Miss Fikes below:
" I do show that you still do have to get your permanent partial. We did not send the charge for this to your insurance carrier yet because it is not placed."
Yet this morning when I contacted my insurance company, I was told that Aspen Dental did not bill for a temporary partial back in August 2010 (when I received the temporary partial) but billed for a PERMANENT partial which I did not get until about April 2011...interesting!
The Ameritas rep Liz said: had Aspen Dental billed for a temporary partial there would have been a different rate for that...ofcourse less than a permanent partial. The insurance rep said if they were to correct their billing to correctly reflect the charges for the temporary partial I received in August 2010, then Aspen Dental would have to reimburse the insurance company as they had overbilled at that point.
I called my insurance company again just to be sure and spoke to Mark and was told that had Aspen dental billed correctly in the first instance for a temporary partial, then I would have been qualified for the insurance payment toward the permanent partial after the 6 month period.
So! here's the synopsis of what Aspen Dental did:
They billed my insurance company for a permanent partial when I only had a temporary and they were paid 50% of $599.00 (eligible PPO charge on a PERMANENT partial) by insurance company...and took payment of 50% from my out of pocket account, then they rebilled the insurance company for "prosthetics" verses what they billed for the first time "denture partial" and when that payment request was denied by the insurance company...Aspen Dental took not $599.00 but $720.00 from my account! And as if that was not bad enough tried to bill me over and above what I should pay...the $172.40 as stated above!
At a time like this, when people are experiencing such economic hardships, is this how Aspen Dental makes its money, by ripping people off? Does this unethical behaviour extend to the Patient Satisfaction department and beyond also? I would like a written explanation/breakdown of all the PPO charges you have applied to the out of pocket account I have with you in the amount of $1412.60 (this I will compare to my insurance statements). Also I as well as my insurance company - Ameritas, would like to know if you are going to make the necessary corrections and ACTUALLY bill them for a temporary partial, since you have already been paid 50% by them for a permanent partial & 50% by myself and have also taken over 100% payment for a permanent partial untop of that from my account because you claim Ameritas denied payment of that permanent partial.
I know your organization has to make money but doing so dishonestly might not be in your best interest. I look forward to your written response.

Jennifer Ebanks

cc Better Businsess Bureau
Pam Bondi - Florida Attorney General

This dental office is a complete scam. The appointment was easy enough to get, but its probably because they are such a complete rip off. I had to wait 45min before getting called back.. only to have 25 xrays taken with this plastic thing being jabbed into my gums. Then walked back to a completely out in the open examining room with a tv blaring and no explanation on how to turn it down. The actual dentist walked in introduced himself and stuck a mirror in my mouth. Looked for five seconds, said looks good no cavities let me get our office manager to talk to you about scheduling a cleaning. I said, well aren't we going to.clean my teeth today, he replied oh no you have to come back to do that. Then the office manager came and took me to her office. She explained I would need two cleanings because it had been awhile since I got my teeth cleaned. Then she showed me what my insurance would cover. Which was only half. I asked why was it so expensive I have amazing insurance, I have never had to pay for anything. She said it was because I needed two cleanings. I said than you very much and walked out. Horrible... horrible place never ever going back no matter how bad my teeth hurt. When I left not only did I have a headache but my teeth actually hurt and they only took xrays.

I had not been to a dentist in years, and I now have dental coverage through my employer and thought I should see a dentist. I went to aspen dental because it was close to me and covered, and the commercials made it seem like a decent place. I had an appointment, and after sitting in the waiting room for close to 25 minutes, they called me back to do my xrays (which they said was standard for new patients). The girl doing the xrays had obviously not done it very often, as she had quite the time getting the tools in my mouth and actually taking the pictures. She struggled through doing each one, and it got to be rather painful having to take the tools in and out of my mouth repeatedly because she wasn't getting a good picture. After that whole ordeal was over, I was brought into the exam room, and waited there for about another 20-25 minutes to see a dentist. She finally showed up, pulled up my rays, told me all 4 of my wisdom teeth were infected and would need to come out, also that I needed a two stage intensive cleaning. Looked in my mouth briefly, scraped a few teeth, and that was that. They sat me down with a "billing specialist" who printed up an estimate of what it would cost me to have my wisdom teeth out and the intensive cleaning that was prescribed. He told me it would be $250 for my wisdom teeth after my insurance payed what they would pay, and that each phase of the cleaning would be $125. That totals to about $500. He told me I had to pay the $250 for the oral surgeon before I could make the appointment, and since I didn't have the money at the moment, I would have to call back to schedule the appointment. They eventually called me to set up the procedure, at which point they went through all the pre-surgery instructions with me, which was fine. Then came time to take my payment, which again, I was told would be $250. I gave the girl on the phone my card info, she told me I was all set and that they'd mail me a receipt.

The next day I look at my bank account and see a $325 charge. I called back to the office and was on hold for 10 minutes before someone told me why there was more of a charge than I was initially told. She told me it was because of the $75 insurance deductible. The procedure was $250 AND I needed to pay my deductible. When I told her that was not what I was told NOT EVEN 24 HOURS EARLIER, and I did not authorize a$325 charge I authorized a $250 charge, she put me back on hold while she spoke with the "office manager". She gets back on the phone and says they'll refund the $75 but that I will be responsible for paying it when I come to the appointment for the procedure, and that it will take 10-14 business days for the refund to clear the bank and show up on my statement. Anyone who's ever had a refund knows it does not take 10-14 days for it to post to your account. I then proceeded to tell her to cancel my appointment and refund the whole $325 becaues I was not happy with the way it was handled and I would have the procedure done elsewhere. I would encourage anyone else to do the same.

BEWARE OF WHAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR ASK QUESTIONS AND VERIFY WHAT YOU ARE REALLY BEING CHARGED

I recently moved to this area, and I wanted to find a new dentist that was conveniently located in this area. Of course, the TV ads caught my attention, using sincerely-looking actors. I am diligent in my routine check-ups, every 5-7 months. On my first visit, only x-rays and initial consultation was scheduled. Not only is this inconvenient for working people, but I would need to take another day off for any other work. They took individual AND panoramic views of my mouth, this is very costly and unnecessary to the dental insurance companies. They claimed I needed deep scaling due to periodontic disease in the lower back section of my mouth, at a cost of $1200.00. I explained that I have never be diagnosed or recommended this procedure. They would not be able to do any routine cleaning without the deep scaling! What a scam!

Let me start off by saying I became dental phobic after a few years ago when a dentist drilled into a tooth that was not numb. So yes it was my fault for putting off dental work for a few years, but recently I had a old filling come off my molar and immediately called to make an appt since they are the only place that takes me aetna dmo insurance. I am first told it will be weeks before they can see me so I am stuck with walk in clinics. Anyhow moving forward, I schedule my first appt with aspen dental in battle creek, mi and I am told I need 21 fillings, some new, but most are old fillings that just need to be redone. fine. So I go for my first appointment and everything is very rushed (they did 5 fillings in 45 minutes). I was told it would be tooth colored fillings for my front teeth, they did the swatch thing where they tried to best match my teeth, well they went about 4 shades (no exaggeration too dark) so mind you it was all I could do to get back in the dentist chair, when I told them I was doing the best I could but it was intimidating for me they said "we dont care about what happened in the past, just in the future. So feeling all accomplished I go home to look at my teeth, my smile turned into a frown after I saw it looked like I had brown spots on my teeth.

The fillings were too dark. Not to mention where they injected me with the numbing solution i felt like I had been punched in the the face for almost a week after (I have never been in that kind of pain over shots in my mouth and believe me I have had plenty) so I work in a call center and they are very finnicky about how they schedule their time off. so I arranged my time off for my second appt. guess what? they pushed it back an hour and left me a message simply stating my appt had been moved, didnt bother to ask me if I could make it, just informed me thats "when I needed to show up" to quote the receptionist directly. While I am in the waiting room i am behind a gentleman who had a new patient appt, he signs in, sits in the waiting room for 15 minutes only to be told they bumped his appt to the next day and yet he was never called. when he told the woman he worked at a factory and it was going to be next to impossible to come in tommorow she said "well give us a call when you can see us again."

This was just the beginning. so I get back to the chair I let them know about the color issue with my previous fillings the dentist sighs and says well that means were gonna have to re do them and I let her know that was ok lets just wait til everything else is done and I will schedule another appointment. She then proceeds to numb me, i generally have a difficult time getting numb which i told them about I had to stop her twice to re numb me because I started to feel it and she said "your are hard to numb, this is ridiculous" when i said i was sorry i wish i could do something to help she just did a frustrated sigh have me a shot and proceeded to work on the tooth TEN SECONDS after putting more numbing solution in it. They do the fillings, they did all the silvers ones except for one that I requested be tooth colored since it would be visible. Guess what? they used the SAME WRONG COLOR on that one too after i asked TWICE to make sure it was lighter.

lets pause and think about this. they now have to redo all the filings they did the first time, and this other one, which means numbing me again and going thru all this again. why? because they didnt do it right the first time. Then during my work I happened to be in a chair by their cleaning area where they clean the instruments three dental assistants were using profanity saying how much stuff they had to clean.

and just when you thought it couldnt get any worse. I noticed that my insurance was charged four times the amount for the first visit for the SAME TEETH NUMBERS, I asked the receptionist about this she goes 'are you sure'? and wouldnt even bring up my account. She said we would figure it out. Oh yes...it gets even worse. So i get home pull up my aspen dental online information and guess what? they charged my insurance FOUR TIMES for the same teeth numbers for todays visit.

So all in all, I have brown spots on my teeth i didnt have before, I have to get a good portion of my fillings redone, my mouth is now sore from a week ago's injections and todays, they have WAY over billed my insurance, oh and yes, today they chipped one of my teeth while working on the other one...only they didnt say anything about it, so that means thats gonna have to be numbed up again too.

let me re emphasize...i was dental phobic before this, and this was my first time in the chair in 4 years. and they want to do a root canal on me? yeah right, needless to say I will be finding another dentist to take care of that portion. If you are like me and dont have a choice because you have DMO insurance...brace yourself. If you have a choice, please please please do not go to aspen dental, they are the worst, i cannot wait to change my insurance next year, and I guarantee you I will NEVER use aspen again once the rest of the work is done. I simply cannot afford to pay out of pocket so I am stuck at the moment. its awful.

I pre-paid for a long list of dental work, begun in February 2011. One issue on that list is the need to have a wisdom tooth pulled. Because I have so many problems with my teeth, the manager of Aspen Dental put them in order of priority, with the pulling of the wisdom tooth being lower on the list than other more immediate problems. During the night early Saturday morning I woke up in pain from the wisdom tooth. I took aspirin, but the pain got progressively worse. I also tried Aleve, rinsing with salt water and anything else I could think of. When I realized it wasn't going to let up, but continued to get more painful I put a call in to Aspen Dental's emergency service line. The operator refused to put my call through to the dentist on call because "my problem tooth was one that they had not yet began work on". I persisted in telling this young woman on the phone that I was in pain and need to speak with my dentist or one on call. She refused to put me through, quoting that its their protocol that emergency calls are only taken for work that has been done and is causing a problem, not on teeth that haven't yet been worked on. No matter how hard I tried to get her to understand that I was in excruciating pain and needed to speak to my dentist who is working on a laundry list of problems - that have already been paid for, she refused to help me. After hours and another night of horrid pain, I tried again at 10:35 a.m. on Sunday. I got the same young woman operator on the phone - she remembered me for yesterday and again refused to help. I asked her if she is a professional dentist qualified to diagnose me over the phone and she got rude and told me that I cannot speak with a dentist, that I don't meet their protocol for an emergency and she refused to put my call through. I am outraged at this lack of concern for an existing patient. I was under the impression that Aspen Dental was MY dentist, but have been corrected on that assumption. They have put their telephone operator in the position of determining if I need emergency dental care. An outrage ! I am now awaiting a return call from my primary care physician looking for help. I am in horrible pain and need something to take to get me through to when I can get to a dentist. Now I have to go to Aspen because I have already paid them for this service. I will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, the American Dental Association and anyone else that I can think of that should know about this cruel and unfair treatment of a human being... CJ Shannon, Connecticut

I just went to Aspen Dental last Friday(4-15-11), I have another scheduled for this Friday and I am wondering if I cancel will I be charged for X-rays, consultation, and whatever other lavish charges they can imagine? I have Fibromyalgia, due to this illness in combo with the medications & my body not absorbing Vitamin D/Calcium properly, my teeth are in desperate need of proper care but reading through the complaints & lawsuits I feel it is necessary to find not only coverage but a DDS with a valid record of success. I can't believe the amount of fast food style GREED that has taken priority over patient care, Sad commentary...I went through my 9 page diagnosis, they have me down for a procedure with every department available to the tune of 9325.00, Hygienist is scrapping gums, general dentist is drilling & filling cavities / including a very thin shrunken front tooth, and then of course the orthodontist for extracting 5 un-salvageable teeth & temporary partials/permanent partials ! I asked so do I get a choice between door #1, #2, or #3 for the token door prize or is there a double-wide trailer waiting for me upon completion of the maze? All the girls I met with were in fact very friendly & did answer all my ?s to the best of their ability however having an office manager explain the run-down left me in an altered state of questioning my own better judgement...I wasn't there for my spring spa day but after reading all the information I do feel as if I made an appointment for a Hi-colonic ...

I took my daughter to Aspen Dental last July, she needed a partial made due to a loss of her tooth. We did what they asked of us and she had 2 teeth pulled and we were told that she needed to get imprint and she would get a temporary partial for about 3 months and then would get the new partial . I gave them $2800.00 and to this day she still has yet to get what we paid for. She has been in their office almost monthly and every month they tell us she needs a new procedure from a cleaning which today cost $145.00 to fillings which from one visit to another we get different story about what she needs. As of today they have told us she needs 2 filling on her bottom teeth and then another cleaning before they can do her print for her partial.
I feel like I am robbed because I have NO insurance and I pay cash for their service so there is really no-one to stop them for changing me for service I don't need. Do I have any rights as to stop them for charging me so much and get what I have paid for. I will NEVER recommended Aspen Dental to anyone. They are thief
I am asking for help in my rights, there has to be something that can be done they have $900.00 of my money for this partial that is still not in my daughter's mouth.
I would appreciate any help

Went to aspen and had my gums cleaned and they are setting up an appointment for next week for me to get nurmouris fillings. They charged my carecredit in advance. After reading the complaints on here I want my money back I dont want my fillings done here...The thing im worried about is will I get my money back? I need that money put back on my carecredit so I have the money to get my teeth done elsewere. They freaking added 186.00 onto the gum treatment they gave me which i didnt like. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

I went to them for a regular check up and cleaning, they informed me I needed a "deep cleaning, and root scaling" which is somewhat of an invastive procedure. Since it was over $700 out of my pocket after ins, and it was very involved with multiple checkups, I decided to get a second opinion. Just to note, they also told me that regardless of the invasive deep cleaning, if I did not opt for the additional $250 antibacterial treatment, that my peridontal disease would come back, but ins wont cover the antibacterial treatment. So... I go to a family dentist, they look at my ex-rays I provided from aspen, they examined me, and told me that not only do I not need what aspen said I did, but that it could potentially cause problems, when they do the root scaling, they're creating pockets between the teeth and the gum line which can actually *lead* to the disease they were claiming I was in need of treatment for! Those crooks! All for my money, they were going to make me worse off than I was just for my dollar! Do not go there unless you like throwing away money and want your teeth to be worse. I'm ashamed of anybody who works there. I'm somebody's mother, i'm somebody's daughter, i'm somebody's sister, would they do this to their own?

I went to Aspen Dental because they were an in-network provider on my insurance. I too, went to Aspen Dental on Illinois Road and it has been the worst experience ever. The female dentist is incompetent. She did my cavity wrong and shaved my tooth too small, so that there is now a big gap between my teeth, a hole and pain. She also did not put my caps on correctly, and now there is a gap between my teeth where the caps are as well. I never had any problems with my other dentist. Network or not, I am going back to my original dentist.

Keep away from Aspen dental. I can't believe they are in business and no one stopd them. They need a hidden camera news team to show what they are up to.

Find a real dentist - fast! They quoted me $4900.00 plus for some work I didn't need at all. I went to a regular dentist and everything Aspen had told me was a lie! They said I had gum disease, needed root canals, etc. etc. There are no decent words to describe them. Now they sent me an offer for 25% off the $5000. worth of services which I didn't follow up with that they said I needed. Haha. But it is no joke, so BEWARE!

Anyone who was scammed by Aspen Dental, please notify me at [protected]@verizon.net. A class action lawsuit in being considered and we need patients and/or former employees to speak with use. Any offices throughout the Country are also under investigation. Any patients/employees of any Aspen Dental, please help us out.

I really wish that I had read the reviews/complaints prior to having made an appointment. In this case, every terrible review that I have read regarding Aspen Dental is true, too bad I only found this out after my horrible experience. I am someone who is deathly afraid of the dentist which is why I ended up with a horrible abscess. I went to the ER due to a swollen face, major infection, and sever pain. The doctor recommended my seeing a dentist within the next day or so. Aspen Dental were the only ones who could see me that quickly. I arrived at my appointment 10 mins. early and filled out their paper work. The outer office was FREEZING and I waited over 30 mins to even be called back. Once I was called I was taken to a small "room" which was no bigger than a closet and was given x-rays. I then was taken to the dentists chair which was uncovered and ripped. The entire office seemed so unsanitary to me and certainly not what I had experienced seeing at "proper" dentists offices such as the one I take my daughter to every six months. I sat in the dentists chair and was given a magazine to read while watching the dentist move from patient to patient in what seemed an assembly line method, also without changing his gloves which he has used on previous patients and picking up papers and x-rays etc. Another 20 mins. later he finally arrived to my chair asked me to open my mouth while he briefly looked in. He went back to the paper work and told his "assistant" that tooth number such and such was beyond repair and that there was a second tooth ready to erupt. In his opinion all of my 26 remaining teeth needed to be extracted and he recommended dentures. I am 46 years old and considering my fear of dentists, I thought that wouldn't be a bad idea, just get them all out and be done with it. I was then told to go wait in the outer lobby and the "office manager" would call my husband and myself in to discuss payment options. After another 20 min. wait, we were finally called in her office. Wow, this office manager really was a sight! She was unkempt and her hair was on the greasy side, it was not product in her hair, but clearly unwashed. We have insurance and prior to my appointment I had checked our benefits. 2 cleanings and sets of x-rays per year are free and most everything else including dentures are covered at 80%, braces at 50%, so we have quite good insurance. After going over the recommendations from the dentist, she came up with a price of $7, 005 AFTER the insurance portion. She proceeded to try to "sell" their financing at a 24% interest rate. Ahhhh, no thanks! I just told her that I would not qualify for the financing trying to end that conversation because I knew at that point she was nothing more than a salesperson and this entire practice was about nothing more than money. She didn't mention anything about my issues with my teeth or my oral health, it was all about, "oh, well couldn't you get a co-signer", or "Maybe you could borrow the money from a family member". I was so disgusted and even offended. She had made a couple comments about my insurance which I knew were not true because I had checked my benefit summary on United Concordia's website prior to my appointment. The bottom line, I wouldn't take my dog to this dental practice! They are unprofessional, sub-par employees (from reception to dentists), and not at all caring or concerned with the oral health of their patients. In my opinion, this chain is nothing more than a money making assembly line business. I hate to think what I would be writing had I let them actually do any work in mouth. My advice, stay away! If you have no insurance, try the nearest Dental College or a dentist with true compassion who is more interested in your oral health than making a dollar. The only reason I went to Aspen was due to them being the only ones able to get me in as quickly as the ER doctor wanted.

When I was Pregnant In 2009, I had a absest tooth that need to be pulled. No job no money and Aspen Dental was the only place that would take me. I went and got x-rays and a couple days after they took my tooth out. I had already told them that I wasnt able to pay them In full so they sent me to a lady to help me figure out payments. She set me up with a credit card called CARE CREDIT saything that the limit was $2000 that i would receive a bill in the mail and that I would be able to make payments on the card. Everthing was fine but I didnt receive any bill. About a month went by and someone called me and demanding $2000. How was I able to pay for this and why. I asked questions and said i could make payments they wanted the amount in full. Everthing was put aside for two years and then a sheriff came to my house that they were going to sell all of our stuff. My husband, my father in-law and myself stuff. Then they told us that the bill was up the $4000. Luckly we got i taxes and were able to pay it. Please who ever you are never go to aspen dental I never would want someone to go through all the greif and pain that we went through. God Bless everyone.

Deceptive Billing Practices

Large signs announcing "free exam and X rays"
After the very cursory exam and way too many X rays, a "meeting" with a billing associate who tries to upsell you with other products. Absolutely no mention of a bill for the initial exam. Afterwards,
received a bill for 215 dollars for, again, very cursory exam, and excessive X rays.

Will NOT be returning to this dental corporation. Recommend NOT going there.

I went with a friend yesterday to have her daughter teeth cleaned. When they arrived and got into the room with the dentist, they refused to work on the child because she has "special needs". Who in the hell do they think they are that they think it is ok to discriminate against people with special needs? Never ever everrrrr go there!

Aspen Dental offered in-house financing with no interest. This turned out to be a scam. The day after my extractions, I received a letter from GE Money Bank stating they could not offer the plan that I signed up for. Had no idea Aspen was dealing with GE Money or I never would have had any work done. GE paid Aspen before I even had any work done. End result was teeth that look like Mr. Ed's with name engraved in bold black letters that have never been worn. They do not fit properly but dentist says otherwise.

I went to Aspen Dental for a tooth ache and they ended up telling me that my teeth were no good and I needed to have all of them pulled and dentures put in. I amde an appointment and had my teeth pulled and dentures put in. From day one I started having trouble and keep going in for adjustments. At least once every week for the first five months. The keep saying they made adjustments and to see how that did and let them know. Everytime I left the office I made another appointment for the following week because I knew I would be back. Six months later I got my permanent dentures and the same problems. They keep telling me that I need implants, which I cannot afford, or that I am not using the adheasive right. "Maybe you are one person who will have to add adhesive three or four times a day".
I am still having problems with my bottom plate and cannot get any satisfaction. I have tired every adhesive made and it may last from 0 seconds to maybe 2 hours. They say that my bone loss is the problem. I want a new lower plate because I think the plate is to big.

Does anyone else have this problem? [protected]@yahoo.com