Dentist Near Me Aspen Dental – Surviving on a paltry $1,300 a month, 87-year-old Teresa Ferritto was worried about the cost when her dentist told her she needed two teeth pulled.
He thought an oral surgeon would be too expensive. So he decided to try a dental chain that advertised steep discounts. He went to Aspen Dental, near Cleveland.
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According to Ferritto, Aspen Dental required a full exam, not just a tooth extraction. He was surprised when he was finally handed a four-page treatment plan. Total cost: $7,835.
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Ferritto couldn’t afford it, but Aspen Dental signed him up for a special credit card that pays $186 a month for five years. He blames himself for signing the papers.
After a day of cleaning and two fillings, Ferritto asked her son for help. She called Aspen Dental to complain, but said she got nowhere. So they appealed to the state attorney general.
Aspen Dental has charged all credit card charges for treatments that have not yet been received. But the company says it’s worth the $2,540 it charged for two fillings and a cleaning.
Aspen Dental charged Ferritto $350 for an antibiotic placed near teeth the dentist tried to pull, a charge other dentists say is unreasonable. There were four separate charges for Listerine-like antibacterial wash, $129. It even paid $149 for an electric toothbrush that Ferritto didn’t know he had until he recently took an Aspen Dental bag out of his garage and found it inside.
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When asked if he used Ferritto, Aspen Dental CEO Robert Fontana said, “I hope the team knew exactly what he needed and fully understood what he was getting into. I hope you know he made the choices he felt were right for him.
Aspen Dental is owned by a private equity firm with approximately 350 offices in 22 states. It’s part of the fast-growing field of corporate dentistry, many of which specialize in serving people who can’t afford to go to the dentist, a group most 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 Community Integrity (CPI) and FRONTLINE have been investigating Aspen Dental for months, and the same business model that makes Aspen Dental accessible to cash-strapped people is driving people into debt and overcharging or overcharging patients. found that it would lead to a complaint. procedures.
Former employees say Aspen Dental trained them in high-pressure sales. Corporate management scrutinizes the performance of dentists and staff on a daily basis. And internal documents show that dentists receive paid bonuses when key production goals are met.
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“You have people in management who are not dentists … they’re breathing down the doctor’s back,” said Jenny Hayes, who worked as an office manager at Aspen Dental in Chicago last year. “There are goals, and if you don’t meet your goals, you lose your job.”
Aspen Dental denies that its dentists have a stronger financial incentive than other dentists or that its bonuses affect treatment. Fontana, founder and CEO of East Syracuse, N.Y.-based Aspen Dental, said dentists don’t perform unnecessary procedures because “it’s not in their DNA.”
“I don’t even know what corporate dentistry is because we don’t have exposure to dentistry,” Fontana said.
He said Aspen Dental frees dentists to focus solely on patients because the company handles back-office tasks such as marketing, accounting and billing. In fact, dentists own and control all practices, Fontana says. All but four states prohibit anyone who is not a dentist from owning a practice under the presumption that dentists are trained and motivated to put patients before profit.
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But Sen. Charles Grassley, Republican of Iowa, questions whether dentists in corporate dental chains are immune to corporate pressures to increase profits. Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, would not speak specifically about Aspen Dental, but he has had committee investigators investigating the company and other private equity-owned chains for months.
“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. Dentists have to figure out what’s good for teeth … not a private equity manager on Wall Street.”
Aspen Dental says it caters to people who don’t go to the dentist. 40 percent of Americans have delayed going to the dentist because a family member couldn’t afford it, according to W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Fontana said Aspen Dental is looking for ways to make it easier for those people to access their offices.
Their offices are easy to find in shopping malls, often near fast food restaurants. Posters advertise free exams and x-rays. Many of their new patients walk in the door without an appointment. Aspen Dental accepts most insurance and if the patient is still strapped for cash, they will sign you up for “no interest” credit cards through GE Capital or Chase on your first day.
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Aspen Dental specializes in dentures, which they manufacture in every office. The consultation room has trays of dentures, from the basic no-frills model to the ‘precisely handcrafted’ ComfiLytes, available in 27 colours. Internet ads sell the prostheses for $249. His commercial tells the story of a man suffering from ill-fitting dentures and a woman who is too embarrassed to smile.
Aspen Dental emphasizes that all new patients undergo a comprehensive screening. So whether someone just wants a regular cleaning or needs a broken tooth fixed, Aspen Dental offers 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 increase the revenue of each new patient.
“People come into the office with a toothache and a treatment plan where the dentist might have said we have to pull all your teeth,” said Jenny Hayes, a former office manager in Illinois. “They were made to stop in the manager’s office and sit down for a heated consultation sale, they didn’t even bargain when they walked in the door. In my office, people literally fell down and cried. And this happened regularly.”
According to an internal company document obtained by CPI and FRONTLINE, the average treatment plan offered to new patients is $4,450 at Aspen Dental’s top-performing offices. The company says the comprehensive treatment is a reflection of the patients they attract.
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“Typically the patient is 45 to 65 and just struggling to make ends meet,” said Fontana, Aspen’s CEO. “They’re taking this week’s paycheck to pay off last month’s mortgage, they’re making car payments, trying to put their kids through school, and unfortunately, dentistry can become optional.”
Donna Kelce of Des Moines, Iowa fits the profile. At age 55, he hadn’t been to the dentist in 15 years. She didn’t have dental insurance and didn’t think she could afford it. Also, her teeth never bothered her until a gap appeared between her two front teeth. Embarrassed, she finally went to Aspen Dental’s office to see one of its commercials.
Kelce was x-rayed and sent to a consulting room, where the dentist gave him a treatment plan. Kelce’s gaze settled on a certain word.
“I felt blood coming down my face and I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ Dentures,” Kelce said.
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Kelce’s dentist recalls that she had no choice but to get a denture because she had lost too much bone for the implant. He didn’t know how he was going to buy Aspen Dental’s $3,700 bill. But then the office manager signed her up for an “interest-free” credit card through Chase. A relieved Kelce thought he was getting a bargain.
He returned in late November 2009 to have 13 teeth extracted. But according to her, the dentist pulled and pulled and could not extract all the teeth, breaking one at the root. Kelce wondered if so much bone had been lost why the teeth weren’t coming out easily. Three hours later, the dentist had to pull six teeth, but he said he couldn’t do any more because he had already given Kelce the maximum dose of Novocaine.
Aspen Dental referred Kelce to one of her former dentists who could see her that evening. Dr. Jessica Lawson looked at Kelce’s teeth and concluded that not all of them needed to be pulled. But he got the job done so Kelce could wear his prosthetics. He suggested that Kelce report the incident to the Iowa State Board of Dentistry. Lawson himself wrote to the board.
“Having worked at Aspen Dental for a short time myself, I know how supportive it can be, especially if
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