Aspen Dental

I was referred to this office by their patient services. I started out at Zanesville, OH Aspen office. I went in for a teeth work after $3,000, 5 teeth pulled, 2 partials made, and several visits later. I was sent to Newark Aspen office. They had to make new partials but they don't fit either. If they can't fix the problem, just refund me the money I spent so I can find another dentist that can fix my teeth.

On Monday, July 19, 2010 at 2:45pm, I came in to Aspen Dental, Newark Ohio for a new patient consultation complaining of a tooth that was sensitive to sweets and left confused with paperwork that stated that I owed a $2,654 in credit charges for dental services to Aspen Dental.

Its now about 14 hours later and I have asked Aspen Dental to cancel (stop) my treatment plan and was told that an email had been sent to the office manager. After my initial conversation with the dentist, I believed that I wanted to get implants. I spoke with the office manager and found out that implants would cost close to $8,000.

I told that office manager that I did not want to spend that much money at this time. The office manager worked out several other treatment plans that were less expensive. Before, I actually knew the details of the altered treatment plan that was going to cost $2,654 that the office manager had worked out. I was told that the money had been credited to my Aspen Dental account.

Then I was whisked off for a cancer screening ($67) which I was told was part of my treatment plan, which I did not have the choice of choosing. Then I was taken to get an impression of my mouth and at that time I told the assistant that I was very confused about which treatment plan was scheduled for me and even more confused at the fact that the office manager said that eight teeth would have to be extracted. The assistant did not take the impression, but called the dentist to explain my treatment plan.

When I became hesitant about having teeth extracted that I was not aware of in the beginning and that the color of my teeth would not match, the dentist aggressively preceded in getting an impression of my mouth and bite (which I was told this morning was because they are working on my partials now). Then the dentist told me to go back to talk with the office manager about the cost of full dentures.

When I left Aspen Dental, I was very confused about the treatment plan, what were the itemized cost and sensing that I got hustled.

On 3/4/2010 I went to Aspen Dental for a new patient exam. They indicated that I had 4 fillings that needed replaced at a cost of $836, which would come out of my pocket. I do not have dental insurance. Most of my dental work has been done in the past 5 years so I did not believe I had that many problems. On 3/39/2010 I went to Dr. Daryl ** for a second opinion. Dr. ** did not find any problems and nothing needed to be replaced. I did not tell him about my trip to Aspen Dental because I did not want to bias his opinion.

I have had the worst time ever with Aspen Dental since Aug of 2009. I had problems with the office manager speaking to me way way out of line, billing insurance wrong 18 times, misleading info about treatment plan. I am sure you know the rest. I am not saying anymore because I am retaining a lawyer on Tuesday because someone has to do something.

Aspen Dental was one of the companies that my insurance would accept. I went complaining of a toothache. I was seen by a dentist and told that I needed a root canal and given an appointment to return for the root canal and a deep cleaning that he said that I needed. I was then led to the finance dept. where I was given a list of charges amounting to over 2,000 dollars. I said that I could not afford that and they said that it cold be broken down into monthly payments. They gave me a form to sign but did not tell me that I was signing up for a credit card.

When I came back for the cleaning they said that I had gum disease and would need treatments or I would lose my teeth. They said that each treatment was 60 dollars and that I needed nine and they would just add it to my monthly payments. After leaving I did some research on the internet and found that I did not have gum disease, the treatments that they gave me had risks that were not explained to me. It was an aggressive treatment for excessive gum disease, which I did not have.

The dentist who saw me had numerous complaints against him and had lost his license. I cancelled my appointment, I was asked why and I explained that I did not need treatments, I was charged for a toothbrush for 170 dollars that they simply handed to me in a bag, did not ask me if I wanted to purchase it. The lady did not say a word, I asked if the charges would be taken off and if I could receive a new bill with only the cancer-screening and the treatments, she said that I had to wait for that and of course I never received it and began to get calls from care credit for payment and that is when I found out that it was a credit card. Something needs to be done about the practices of Aspen Dental, I never had the work done but they charged me anyway and I had to pay to have the work done elsewhere.