Aspen Dental

If I could give 0 Stars, I absolutely would.

We visited the Ankeny location on a Saturday, and were happy with the flexibility provided. However, my husband and I spent a total of 3 hours to complete our examination. Most of his time was spent waiting in the waiting room and then waiting for the dentist to enter our exam room. By the end of both of our examinations, we were told we needed $3,000 worth of work done. This was after the dentist spent 10 to 15 seconds looking at each of our mouths and x-rays.

We left, feeling uncomfortable with the work being suggested as neither one of us have had serious dental issues in the past. After getting second opinions, it turns out that I only had a cavity (that was missed), and my husband did not need any of the work suggested.

I frequently warn everybody that I know against going to Aspen dental and would encourage people to not use this dentist.

They are very nice and professional staff who are committed to helping people and I will continue to go there for all my dental needs.

The staff remembers my husband and I every visit & always seem to have smiles on. I have never met such a great group of ladies truly wanting to make your dentist visit a great one. We will be staying for years to come!

Aspen got me in asap on an emergency basis, however, other than x-rays, they couldn't do anything else. The dentist was somewhat abrupt and really didn't listen to me, idk if it was because she was busy or because she knew my insurance didn't cover anything there. But the woman who helped me apply for credit there was amazing, and she's the only reason I'm giving it 3 stars, otherwise it would be one star. Mind you, this is only my experience, I'm sure if you can pay and make an appointment in a timely manner youdy be treated differently.

Had a tooth pulled and did not receive any pain med or a antibiotic. Also was numbed up a doc left and by the time he got back to me it was starting to wear off. Will never go back to Aspen dental again or recommend them to anyone.

Went in for wisdom tooth surgery scheduled at the last minute. The staff and technicians were absolutely phenomenal and reassuring. Dr. Belil was very informative and made sure I was comfortable and understood everything. Definitely a great team.

Absolutely loved the service here! The team helped me through an extraction and made sure I was comfortable! You all are amazing!

I was blown away with how rude and attacking the “office manager” was on the phone with me. I’ve been trying to get an incorrect bill figured out for the past couple weeks because I received a letter from a collection agency. But I’ve called 3 or 4 times and every time they say we’ll call you back(they don’t) so I finally explain that I’m upset and I need this taken care of. 5 min later I receive a call from a private/restricted number and as soon as I confirm who I am, I’m verbally attacked because “she is the only one handling insurance claims, she’s over worked and I need to give her time”(would of been great to tell me that the first time) but thank god I gave my wife one of my headphones to listen in because otherwise I’d have no proof, with her not telling me her name and calling on a restricted number. It nonstop yelling at me, I had to tell her to calm down, she responded very angrily “IM NOT UPSET” I finally said “your clearly upset so go and calm down and give me a call when your ready” I felt like I was at work. That was 2 days ago and I wondering how long I should wait for this “office manager” attempt to do her job before I call back and risk having to deal with her again. I’d love to hear back from a higher up in the company, we were completely blown away with her hostility, I wish I got her name but she said she’s the only one who takes care of insurance claims so it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out who she it.

All of the ladies at the office were wonderful. They did a good job of keeping patients separate and safe. The dentists office can be scary but they did a great job making the process as painless as possible. Thank you!

I will not go back to an Aspen Dental ever again. If you choose to do so I WOULD NOT let Dr. Nivedita Shaene work on your teeth!!! I've used several of their locations because of flexibility of scheduling but no more after the last experience. She had to numb a tooth that she was trying to repair a cavity on 3 times (with several different shots each time), the 3rd time I could feel the needle hit and scrape around on my jaw bone. Basically gave up after drilling for several minutes several different times and told her assistant (NOT ME) that she couldn’t fix it and it would need to be pulled and puts a temporary filling in it. Leaves the room and comes back with a prescription for antibiotics and Tylenol 3 and walks off. Doesn’t say anything about how or when or why I should take either of the drugs or even which tooth it is that she’s wanting to pull and why she couldn’t fix it. I get to the pay-out counter and had to ask the secretary which tooth they are wanting to pull and why it couldn't be fixed and what were my instructions and reason for the antibiotics were. That night and the next day I had some of the worst dental pain I’ve ever had even WITH taking IBP AND T3. When the numbing subsided I quickly realized it mostly wasn’t even from the actual tooth itself but from all the stabbing, poking, and gouging with the needle that she’d done trying to GET the tooth numb. Furthermore, when the numbing wore off I realized that my bite was severely off in the back of my mouth where the fillings (both the temporary AND the permanent) she had just put in were because they were left extremely high so they hit before any other tooth in my mouth did. (I couldn’t feel this in the chair because my entire face was so numb by the time she’d finished murdering my gums with Litocane).

I decided to get a second opinion before letting them pull it and found a different dentist that owned his own private practice and got in to see him a few days later. He numbed it twice (with just a couple shots each time) and I couldn’t feel ANYTHING while he began drilling out the temporary filling. He determined that luckily she had not drilled into the pulp of the tooth. He cleaned the cavity out and put a pulp cap in and then filled the tooth and was done. Later after the numbing wore off there was no pain at all without taking any drugs and my bite was perfect.

That Doctor Nivedita Shaene was going to pull a tooth that didn’t need to be pulled. It was a hard lesson learned but I will let all my teeth ROT before I go back to Aspen dental ever again. That was the worst dental experience I’ve ever had in 34 years. I’m absolutely appalled that not only did they let that woman graduate dental school but that Aspen continues to let her work for them!

Dr. Joseph at the Aspen Dental/Mills Civic location in West Des Moines is very good. I've used him in the past but I'll never go back to another Aspen again after this experience just because I know they let people like this last doctor work for them. If you live on the west side of town, Dr. Ames Cross at Stuart Family Dental in Stuart IA is one of the best if not THE BEST dentist I've ever been to.