Aspen Dental
Reviews and Complaints

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

I went to the aspen dental in waterford, ct, and I must agree with someone else's findings with that staff, dentist and overall aspen experience. Don't believe the commercials, jiffy lube sums it up better.

I too had the displeasure of finding out the hard way that once you get past the incompetent, ill trained, front desk staff (Never the same person due to high turnover), who can't make an appointment properly, let alone bill you correctly, because the office manager doesn't know her job. Then you need to endure a dentist, dr. F, who is in love with himself and brags about how good he is and how great his life is, well if that's so, why does any 'good" dentist give up a lucrative practice to add credence to this fast food chain? It's because he couldn't do it on his own and needed to hide behind corporate america, with all of aspens' malpractice lawyers. I had some crown work and fillings done by him and later a root canal by another staff doctor, and now a year later I am having serious dental problems with his work and feel i'm in constant pain. Something about his technique never felt right with me, nor his illogical explanations either. Not to mention the hygienist j, who cleans your teeth with all the gentleness of a cheese grater!

Expect to be over billed and if you do not catch it and go back and ask for a credit, it is your loss. The best part is if you complain or just bring any of this to their attention they will just kick you out and tell you not to come back. Because they are backed by a terrible regional manager, who should be selling used cars, and he really thinks he is smarter than anyone who dares enter his doors. I have never wasted time to go online and complain about anything before, except this nagging pain in my mouth will not let me forget what they have done to me.

To anyone thinking of going to aspen don't! Do yourself and your family a favor and seek out competent, dental professionals in your neighborhood. You will sleep better and your family will be healthier for it.

Let's face it, if aspen was any good, at all, why are there thousands of complaints by angry, hurt, pissed off patients, they can't all be wrong and these are people from all walks of life and all over the country, so why after reading this would one subject themselves to these type injuries, unless they were masochistic. If you know anything about business you know that if you want to increase corporate profits you need to cut corners and maximize your fees, so hiring sub standard, low pay workers is one way to accomplish that goal. Talented individuals wouldn't want aspen on their resumes. I sincerely hope this helps you, good luck.

Went to Aspen dental for tooth fillings. They told I have first to do teeth cleaning and then they can do the fillings. They did the cleaning and the hygienist gave me a tooth brush to clean my teeth every night. The hygienist never told me about the price of the tooth brush and I never asked. At that time, I paid in advance more than $200. When I checked the claims on the dental insurance site, I found that Aspen dental did charge the same amount I paid above to the dental insurance company (they got paid twice for the same service). When I asked Aspen dental about it, they told me they have to submit the bill to the insurance company (but why they told me to pay in advance?)
While looking at the bill I found something odd. Aspen dental DID CHARGE ME $130 for the TOOTHBRUSH :(
I went to their office and told them that I do not want the toothbrush and want my money back. I did give them the tooth brush back and they told me they will put the $130 back to my credit card. Till now, after several weeks, they did not pay me back the $130.

The filings they did for me were HORRIBLE. Till now I cannot eat or drink most of the food because the fillings hurt me a lot. I called Aspen dental and they told me to come to their office. After they did their check they told me I may need root canal and I have to consult another dentist.

What a HORRIBLE experience I had with them.

This is my advice, stay away from this company, they bring people for training and do not care about the patients and they steal your money.

My father is 92 years old and he still can wear his teeth and it has been three years. First, when they pulled them the chard bone and that made blisters on his gums but the only thing they did was file down the teeth. He went back each and every Monday for about six months and he still can't wear them. He finally went to a dentist in his home town and they removed the bone and he can now wear them short periods of time becaus they do not fit. He has called them and they told him that they can't do anything. From all the different visits he must have close to $5000.00 invested in something he can wear. He is not from the town that Aspen Dental is in and he can't drive that far so he has to make arrangements for rides because he has no family close to him to transport him back and forth. Not only has it been hard on him but he has to beg people for rides and that shouldn't be for someone 92 years old. He should be enjoying his teeth and not worrying about how much his mouth hurts all the time.

Aspen Dental has been a thorn in my side since 2007. After going in for a root canal I was billed over and over for the root canal. Long story short, they kept submitting the WRONG tooth to the insurance company! I went in for the mold for the crown and cancelled it when I got home. The girl at the desk said she would take care of it. Guess what, SHE DIDN'T. they called me to come in for the crown. I told them I had cancelled it the same day . Well, I was told I still had to pay for it. After arguing with the financial women over the situation, she then was wheeling and dealing with me to make a payment. They kept getting lower. I refused, I was not going back to their office. They made the mistake. Well a year later I get a call from a collection agency, I end up paying a small amount to get them off my back. Unfortuantly it is my word against theres. 2011- I am getting calls from another collection agency trying to get 979.00 from me. I call the office and they have yet to be able to tell me what they are billing me for. I have called the office three times to talk to the office manager and have yet to hear back. I would highly recommend not going to them. The office staff are unreliable and non proffessional.