Aspen Dental review: LaVale Maryland dental office

I started my dental care in the Lavale Maryland Aspen Dental office in April 2022 and during the first visit for the consultation the dentist Darcy Allen assessed my teeth and what dental work I would need to be done. During this initial visit, she was rude and very short with answering any questions my wife and I asked one of the dental assistants if she was always that rude to the patients and the dental assistant stated that is how she acted towards everyone. I had dental surgery in April 2022 for tooth extraction, dental implants, and upper and lower temporary dentures.

My wife called the office in Lavale Maryland to schedule my 6-month appointment to get my implants exposed and was told by Katie that the oral surgeon was leaving that practice and going to another location but once they had the other surgeon in the office and their schedule they would call back to get me scheduled. On 9/27/22 Katie called my wife back and stated they had their surgeon scheduled and he would be able to do my surgery on 10/8/22 at 0830 my wife asked to verify the date and time since that was on a Saturday and she was told since that surgeon was just starting there yes it was correct and on Saturday 10/8/22. After speaking with Katie that day my wife received an email that the appointment time was changed to 0800. On Saturday 10/8/22 we went for my appointment at 0800 and were sitting in the waiting room for my appointment time and several minutes after 0800 one of the dental assistants came to the front desk and motioned for my wife and me to come there. So we went to the front desk and she proceeded to tell me that the new surgeon could not do my surgery so I asked her why couldn’t he and she said since Dr. Jae Kim had been the initial surgeon to place my implants that they had received a message the night before that he wanted to continue the care for his patients and didn’t want any other surgeons proceeding with the next stages so I asked her how is it Dr. Kim’s decision on who performs the next stage of my dental work. At this point, another employee came to the desk and said that the new surgeon would do the procedure, but Dr. Kim said that I had to follow up with him in the Hagerstown Maryland location. I asked where my rights as the patient were since I’d already had the first stage of the dental work completed at that location I had to go to another Aspen dental location that was over two hours away when again this office had all of my dental records from the past six months. I said that they had already messed up once six months ago when this started because they forgot to have me come in prior to my tooth extraction to have my dental impressions done and I was asked the morning of the first surgery to reschedule after I was already there for the procedure since they forgot to get the impressions of my teeth and that meant me and my wife miss work again to come back. So they finally contacted someone to make my impressions that day in a rush which resulted in my upper denture plate having the teeth offset and not centered but since they worked with me to do everything that day I let everything go without making complaints. But now when going back to have the next stage done I was told they couldn’t do the procedure and told I had to drive to the other location further away and again I asked about my patient rights of me choosing to stay at that location in Lavale Maryland and I was told again that they weren’t doing it. The whole time this conversation is going on with myself, my wife, and the two Aspen dental employees there are two other patients in the waiting room listening to everything being said and that was breaching my privacy and patient information. My wife and I walked outside and were still confused about the situation and them refusing to do the procedure so after talking for a few minutes we were thinking they might have misunderstood what I was trying to ask and that I would rather the new surgeon there to just go ahead and do the procedure. We went back inside and one employee was on the phone and asked us to wait a minute and she would help us again. So once off the phone, I asked her if it was possible for the new surgeon to perform the procedure and at this point the dentist Darcy Allen came out to the front desk and started saying very loudly that we didn’t understand and wasn’t listening to her and this was all while there were four other patients in the waiting area no, again hearing everything about my care and concerns. Darcy kept getting louder and stated we didn’t understand and wasn’t listening but they were not doing the procedure since they received a message last night about Dr. Kim wanting to continue the surgery on his own patients so those patients needed to go to Hagerstown Maryland and then she yelled that is was closer to us and the one employee mentioned to the Darcy that no that location was actually over two hours away from us. Still, at this time Darcy didn’t listen to my concerns about being told that I didn’t have patient rights on wanting to stay at that location since that is where I started my care six months prior and they already had all my records there. Darcy still continued to be aggressive in her language with the other patients still in the waiting room behind my wife and me. Darcy then yelled and pointed towards the front door and told my wife and me that we needed to leave and she meant to leave now because she wasn’t listening any longer and I wasn’t allowed to come back to that office for any other care and if we didn’t leave now then she was calling the law on us. Darcy continued to yell as my wife and I were walking towards the door, the other patients sitting in the waiting area stared and watched us walk out the door. Once getting out of the vehicle my wife and I was completely in shock at how we were treated for no reason at all and also having the other patients in the same room hearing everything. At no time during this issue did they offer to have us go to another room to explain their reasoning.

After leaving this location my wife tried calling Aspen dental about what just happened and asked why was I told that I couldn’t go back there to get the rest of the stages completed. Since it was Saturday she wasn’t able to get in contact with the main office but somehow was transferred to the Harrisonburg Virginia location. The woman she spoke with stated she wasn’t sure why I was told I’d have to go to another location to complete the process since that was where I had all the dental work completed and she had never heard of a surgeon telling their patients they were required to follow that doctor to another location because if he had moved out of state that isn’t possible for people to follow them elsewhere. My wife explained that were the concerns I had and that were the questions I was trying to ask and the dentist there wouldn’t listen. The woman stated that Dr. Scott could assess what I was needing to be done and see if he was able to do it at their office in Harrisonburg Virginia and she was able to get me scheduled for 10/10/22 for Dr. Scott to see what he could do for me. So once getting to the location in Harrisonburg on 10/10/22 the receptionist was very pleasant and checked me right in, we only waited a short period of time in the waiting room once in the back myself and my wife explained what happened at the other location, and that their doctor was to assess what he would be able to do and that they would have to request my dental records from the Lavale Maryland location. Once in the room, Dr. Scott and his assistant came into the room and it was a very pleasant experience with all the team members within this location. My wife and I explained again to Dr. Scott and his assistant what happened at the other location and he started pulling up my dental records to determine what would need to be done. Everyone in this office listened to the concerns I had and was very willing to help out with the next stage of my dental work. Dr. Scott talked with the office manager and explained that he wanted to help me out and do the next stage of my procedure that day since we traveled there and after not having this done on Saturday. Dr. Scott and his staff continued to treat me and my wife with the most respect and an amazing experience with all the care provided. Dr. Scott was able to unearth my implants without any difficulties and his assistant was able to get my lower denture to set in perfectly then I was scheduled to come back in two weeks to have my impressions made for my permanent teeth. Again everyone in this Harrisonburg Virginia office was very professional and showed they cared for their patients and for the services they were providing to each patient they cared for. My concern is that I would like something to be done to Darcy Allen for the way she treated me and breached my patient's privacy and showed very little respect for my rights as the patient.