Aspen Dental

If you have any fear of dentists or needles, or if you need to have procedures explained to you, save yourself a nightmare. I was attracted to Aspen by their open schedule and needed to establish dental care after moving to a different city. Interested in hearing more, read on.

They took me in, stuck a big phallic probe in my mouth without explanation. Jammed x-ray slides into my mouth and gums, still no real explanations except "open your mouth." Then they took me to another room and starting probing my gums with a sharp metal poker. Then they talked about my x-ray behind my back and started counting out loud, and I thought they were counting cavities. By that point, I was breaking out into a cold sweat. They told me I needed a scaling, two fillings and crown or possible root canal (the dentist knocked on my tooth with a metal object without warning to see if it was painful). We could schedule the scaling that day, and they would do one half of my mouth at a time. I agreed to come back in an hour, as I wanted to get my mouth taken care of.

They put cream on my gums to numb them before the numbing injections. Then a woman came in the room, didn't introduce herself, told me to open my mouth and proceeded to mercilessly inject the Novocain (or whatever) all around my left jaw. By the time she got to the roof of my mouth, it became more painful. When I cried out, she didn't even hesitate to keep going. When she finished with the injections, she walked out of the room without a word, leaving me in sobbing hysterics. I couldn't stop crying, and I later found out that there was epinephrine in the injections that was flooding my system. The dental hygienist gave me a tissue and then proceeded with the scaling, which I could still feel. Then they "gave" me a 500 dollar electric toothbrush and sent me on my way.

Two days later, I could barely open my mouth wide enough to get a finger inside. It took a couple of weeks for my jaw to relax and go back to relatively normal.

I made an appointment with another practice. They said I needed a replacement filling, maybe a crown if the filling didn't work. I asked about getting a scaling done on the right side of my mouth, but the dentist there told me a scaling was unnecessary. They did a routine cleaning and sent me home with special mouthwash and MI paste. My mouth is happy.

So the moral of the story is: Get a second opinion.

I am usually not one to write reviews, but I will admit that I have been extremely unhappy with the scheduling team at Aspen Dental. I have been re-scheduled four times now on different occasions, even having my appointments cancelled a couple of hours before (even though I had called the day prior confirming my appointment and they said we were still on). I have not been able to get a dental cleaning for at least 1.5 years now because of this. This last time, we scheduled my cleaning 6 months in advance, and when I called the day of my appointment, it said that the appointment was in my record but not in my calendar. It is honestly just embarrassing for them at this point that they cannot keep clients nor schedule a simple appointment. I understand staffing shortages and whatnot, but when this is not communicated with clients who have appointments, it is purely disrespectful (especially those working in the healthcare field and have to schedule time off of work multiple months in advance). I will not be returning back. They've had nice employees when going there, but due to the fact that my health has been put on a backburner because of their lack of communication and competency, I will be going elsewhere.

They need a better manager. Service and dentists here are the worst. I was late 10 minutes for the appointment, can’t reach them by call, got there, they told me dentist left and the phone line was off because there was only that person working at the front desk and she just can’t answer all the phone calls. Another time I was there, appointment at 12, got there early, but made me wait until 12.20. The worse thing is that the filling was not even, I can’t close my month properly. I told them there twice but they said if it’s still like that, call them and they can fix it the next day. It usually takes at least 10 minutes wait to connect to the call, and I personally don’t drive so I have to take Uber. They think they are the busiest people in the world and everyone have to make time for them. It is so frustrating to communicate with them!

Everyone was kind and respectful and helpful from beginning to end. I did not feel as though they rushed through any part of my initial evaluation, they understood how nerve wracking going to the dentist can be and were very reassuring. Going to a bigger dental office/company, I was worried about feeling like cattle being pushed through the motions, but this was not the case at all.

My first time there was just xrays and a 2 minute meet and greet with a dentist. The appt lasted one and a half hours, sitting in s room alone for a long time esp. at the end waiting for the financial person to review the bill.
Second time was for a cleaning. The hygentist said not one word the entire time, spent all the time on my bottom teeth and finally spoke when was leaving, asking "will you come back again?" Me = speechless.

They don't have a FT dentist for math. My appointment has been rescheduled multiple times. I came from a long distance. Sometime, I didn't get message due to weekend. The appointment is Monday am. I went there n waste my time. It happened several times, not just me. I saw another client showed up n turned down the appointment n he came from long distance as well. Now their hygiene appointment is following the same pattern. They made an appointment n reschedule you multiple times. I have enough. Our time is as important as theirs they deserve bad review. Sorry
I m not going back to this location again

Constant rescheduling. Additionally, they seem to deliberately mislead about the costs. I am not the only one who went in and had something like this happen: During my appt, I used the membership and was told I'd only have to pay $175 and they said "wow aren't you glad you got the membership, it saved you $200 today". Seemed great. However my next appt was apparently canceled the night before without any text or phone call. Bc of no text or call, I showed up and found out I had no appt, but that I did have an outstanding balance of $175. I didn't understand, as I'd paid at my previous visit. Come to find out, I'd only paid for a toothbrush which I wasn't told I was getting and was sold to me at near double the price you can get it at Target. Also, they said I'd need to reschedule, but there were no openings for the next 7 months. AVOID. I feel like there is a class action lawsuit coming for these guys.

I strongly suggest finding another dental care provider over Aspen Dental. I had the worst experience compared to my past dental cares. I have pretty good daily maintenance of my teeth, at least no cavities in the past 8 years. During my first visit, they told me that I need a deep cleaning, which I accepted and spend roughly $300 based on their comments. They also tried to sell me an electrical toothbrush, but I refused. Then they scheduled me for another regular cleaning just one month after my first visit, without any explanation. After doing that, I was told by my dental insurance that deep cleaning is considered to be equivalent to regular cleaning, and in fact, after the deep cleaning, people usually wait for 6 months to allow the recovery of gum!!! And the insurance company refused to pay for the subsequent regular cleaning after that, since there was one unnecessary cleaning.

During my first visit, they took an X-ray for me, and after 6 months, they asked me to do another X-ray. I actually questioned them before and during my visit, twice! But again, Aspen Dental told me that was normal and they performed it regularly, and were covered by the dental insurance. It turned out that the insurance company refused to pay for the second X-ray... And their regular cleaning couldn't even remove the extrinsic stains on the teeth...

I spent like $500 more than usual at this Aspen Dental. The service I got was not of good quality, and was potentially harmful, plus without clear explanations. I would definitely switch to another dental care, and my insurance company said they would like to investigate this...

Worst place ever. Charge so much, made several unnecessary diagnoses on my treatment plan, convinced me to pay a huge part of a procedure I hadn't even gotten... I got a second opinion and it is literally less than half the price there than it was at Aspen, and I am talking thousands of dollars. People were nice and they had quick scheduling... but terrible in all other regards. Not worth it, ever.

Staff isn't the greatest, went to a further office away from where I'm at, got scheduled an appointment to my local office only to arrive at my local office to be told that they never received my appointment confirmation, couldn't even get ahold of anyone 2 days before my appointment and now I have to reschedule because of their mistake