Call Aspen Dental Near Me – An Aspen dental clinic in Bay City is named in a lawsuit against a New York-based dental firm. Photo file
A Michigan woman is among 11 patients suing Aspen Dental Management Inc. and alleges that the New York-based company is illegally operating dental clinics across the country and forcing patients to undergo expensive procedures.
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Aspen has 18 locations in Michigan, including Bay City, Flint, Holland, Jackson, Lansing, Midland, Muskegon, Saginaw and three offices in the Grand Rapids area. The Bay City office is named in the lawsuit.
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Alleges that Aspen, which is owned by a private equity firm, is run by non-dentists and therefore engages in the illegal corporate practice of dentistry. Attorney Brian Cohen said the Aspen clinics are tied to licensed dentists, but those dentists do not actively practice at the clinic.
“Because of the way the company’s model is set up, it’s profit-driven and puts profits over the quality of patient care and encourages and incentivizes people who work in local offices to get patients to commit to expensive patient treatment plans,” he said Cohen.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in New York, seeks class-action status for other Aspen patients. He is seeking a judgment declaring that the authorities are not legally licensed and an unspecified amount of monetary damages.
Aspen disputes the claim. The company provides business support services to dentists who own and operate more than 350 practices in 22 states, according to its website.
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“The dentists and staff at Aspen Dental offices across the U.S. provide access to high-quality, affordable dental care for millions of patients. Their sole commitment is to do what is right for their patients,” the company said in a statement.
“ADMI is proud that the business support services it provides allow dentists to devote more time to patient care rather than the accounting, IT and other administrative duties associated with running a dental practice.”
Needing a filling replaced in August 2010, Huddleston visited Aspen’s Bay City office after seeing ads offering free exams and X-rays.
The office manager convinced Huddleston to commit to an extensive treatment plan after a brief dental exam, according to the lawsuit. Her insurance wouldn’t cover the full $6,538, so Huddleston agreed to take out a health care credit card.
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In 2010, then-New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo criticized CareCredit for offering kickbacks to providers to steer patients into using the cards.
“Doctors are supposed to represent patients, not credit card companies, no matter what kickbacks they’re offered,” he said in an August 2010 statement.
Phone calls to Huddleston’s home in Gladwin County, about 55 miles north of Bay City, were not returned Friday afternoon.
Since 2009, 11 complaints have been filed against Aspen Dental with the Michigan Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Protection. All of the complaints are about billing or non-refunds, said Joy Yearout, a spokeswoman for the authority.
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If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Theresa Ferritto, 87, who survives on a meager $1,300 a month, was upset about the cost when her dentist told her she needed two teeth pulled.
She figured an oral surgeon would be too expensive. So she decided to try a dental chain that advertised steep discounts in its advertisements. She went to a dental office in Aspen, near Cleveland.
Ferritto said Aspen Dental wouldn’t just pull the teeth, but insisted on a full exam. She was confused when they finally handed her a four-page treatment plan. Total cost: $7,835.
Ferritto couldn’t afford it, but Aspen Dental signed her up for a special credit card with monthly payments of $186 over five years. She blames herself for signing the papers.
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After a day of cleaning and two fillings, Ferritto asked her son for help. He called Aspen Dental to complain but said he got nowhere. They therefore turned to the public prosecutor.
Aspen Dental has charged her credit card for any treatment fees she has not yet received. But the company said the $2,540 it was charged for two refills and cleaning was reasonable.
Aspen Dental charged Ferritt $350 for an antibiotic placed next to the teeth the dentist was about to pull, which other dentists say doesn’t make sense. There were four separate charges for an antibacterial rinse, similar to Listerine, for $129. There was even a $149 charge for an electric toothbrush that Ferritto didn’t even know she had until she recently pulled an Aspen Dental bag out of her garage and found it inside.
When asked if Ferritto was tapped, Aspen Dental CEO Robert Fontana said, “I hope the team was clear about what they needed and that they fully understood what they were getting into. And hopefully, you know, she made the decision that she felt was right for her.”
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Aspen Dental is a chain of nearly 350 offices in 22 states managed by a privately held company. It’s part of a fast-growing industry of corporate dental practices, many of which specialize in serving people who can’t afford to go to the dentist, a group that many dentists ignore.
By marketing to people who haven’t seen a dentist in years, Aspen Dental often provides new patients with treatment plans that cost thousands of dollars. The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and FRONTLINE spent months investigating Aspen Dental and found that the same business model that makes Aspen Dental accessible to cash-strapped people can also lock people into debt and has led to complaints from patients who are overcharged or given unnecessary treatments .
Former employees say Aspen Dental trained them in high-pressure sales. The management of the company checks the production of dentists and employees on a daily basis. And internal documents show dentists are paid bonuses as key production targets are met.
“You have people who are not dentists who are in management … breathing down the doctor’s back,” said Jenny Hayes, who worked as an office manager for Aspen Dental in the Chicago area last year. “There are goals and if you don’t meet your goals, you lose your job.”
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Aspen Dental denies that its dentists have stronger financial incentives than other dentists or that its bonuses affect treatment. Fontana, founder and CEO of East Syracuse, N.Y.-based Aspen Dental, said dentists won’t perform unnecessary treatments because “it’s just not in their DNA.”
“I’m not even sure what corporate dentistry means because we have no influence on dentistry,” Fontana said.
He said Aspen Dental allows dentists to focus solely on patients because the company handles back-office duties such as marketing, accounting and billing. In fact, dentists own and control all the practices, Fontana says. All but four states prohibit anyone who is not a dentist from owning a practice, provided the dentists are trained and motivated to put patients before profits.
But Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, questions whether dentists at corporate dental chains are exempt from corporate pressures to maximize profits. Grassley, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, would not speak specifically about Aspen Dental, but committee investigators have been looking into the company and other private equity chains for months.
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“Because when private equity firms get involved,” Grassley explained, “you have to understand that their motivation is to make money. And they’re not dentists. And dentists should make the decisions… about what’s good for teeth… Not some private equity manager on Wall Street.”
Aspen Dental says it serves people who might not otherwise go to the dentist. According to a survey by W.K. 40 percent of Americans have a family member who puts off going to the dentist because they can’t afford it. Kellogg Foundation. Fontana says Aspen Dental is looking for ways to make it easier for these people to enter their offices.
Their offices are easy to find in shopping malls, often near fast food restaurants. Posters advertise free examinations and x-rays. Many of their new patients walk in the door without an appointment. Aspen Dental accepts most insurances and if the patient is still strapped for cash, they will sign you up on day one for “no interest” credit cards through GE Capital or Chase.
Aspen Dental specializes in dentures, which they manufacture in each office. The consulting room has a stack of dentures to choose from, from a no-frills base model to “precision hand-crafted” ComfiLytes in 27 shades. Internet ads offer dentures for sale for $249. Her ad tells the stories of a man who suffers from ill-fitting dentures and a woman who is too shy to smile.
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Aspen Dental insists that all new patients have a comprehensive exam. So whether someone just wants a routine cleaning or needs a broken tooth fixed, Aspen Dental presents a treatment plan for any problems that may arise years later. Fontana says this approach is best for patients because neglected teeth and gums can lead to serious problems. However, several former employees describe the initial exam as a sales tactic to maximize revenue from each new patient.
“People might come into the office with a toothache.
