Aspen Dental
Encyclopedia
Aspen Dental is a company offering "complete dental care solutions," providing general and cosmetic dentistry and denture care for families and seniors. The company has been accused of unethical business and sales practices and a business model that emphasizes profit over patient care.
, at a dental lab called Upstate Dental, which began operations in 1964. In 1981, Upstate Dental merged its lab services with centralized management services to initiate the new dental practice management concept. The company became Upstate Dental Management, LLC in 1997 when an investor acquired Upstate Family Denture Services, Inc., Upstate Denture Labs, Inc. and East Coast Dental Management, Inc. The last step in the creation of Aspen Dental came in 1998 when Upstate Dental and East Coast Dental merged and agreed on a common name: Aspen Dental Management, Inc.
, Connecticut
, Florida
, Iowa
, Illinois
, Indiana
, Kentucky
, Maine
, Massachusetts
, Michigan
, Minnesota
, New Hampshire
, New York
, Ohio
, Oregon
, Pennsylvania
, Rhode Island
, South Carolina
, Tennessee
, Vermont
, Washington and Wisconsin
.
Each office has certified oral hygienists, dentists and oral surgeons for general dental care. Additional offerings include: emergency and major cosmetic dental care, crowns, bridges and oral surgery. They also have a line of proprietary dentures called Comfidents. Aspen Dental accepts most dental insurance
plans, and has a variety of payment options and low-cost services
Aspen Dental Jobs is a professional career resource offering dentists, dental specialists, hygienists, lab technicians and support staff to search dental professional openings online within Aspen Dental’s network of 250 office locations in 21 states across the U.S.
members.
In 2009, Aspen Dental launched an initiative with Oral Health America to battle oral cancer
. Activities for this partnership consisted of oral health education and an oral cancer prevention program for the Little League Baseball World Series
The problem was originally brought to Aspen Dental's attention on Otober 5th by a Twitter post and a phone call to a regional manager.
Aspen Dental maintains that the lapse in security was resolved within 60 minutes, but the publicly available twitter posts show that is not the case.
Aspen Dental has employed Kroll Fraud Solutions to handle identity theft related to this incident. The letter sent out by Aspen Dental had both company's name at the top of it. Kroll has also been made aware of the possibly inaccurate statements regarding how long it took to resolve the issue.
their customers on expensive and often unnecessary procedures and dental treatments.
The practice of developing treatment plans for their patients and offering to arrange financing in house leads many patients to experience sticker shock when an itemized bill of suggested treatment plans can total several thousand dollars. The company regularly receives low rankings on consumer review sites such as Yelp, Google Local, and Insider Pages
. In addition, further frustration grows from consumers who feel the company uses scare tactics
and pushy sales methods to sell more services and extra items such as electric toothbrushes exceeding $150.00 USD.
The corporate business model of the company conflicts with many dentist's personal views, ethics and draws debate as to their obligations under Hippocratic Oath
. Many dental professionals feel the heavy-selling, profit-first business model conflicts with looking out for a the patient's best interests. Their business model results in a high turnover rate, leading to many of their technicians, dentists and hygienists being inexperienced and freshly out of school with student loans. Their position with Aspen Dental puts pressure on them to sell as many dental-related services as possible in order to maximize profits. Many former and current employees have attested on various internet websites as to their personal experience with the company, mostly revolving around a theme that offices are typically run inefficiently and profit is placed before a patient's best interest.
The company appears to hire representatives to monitor online review and consumer websites for negative publicity and reply from a standardized list of responses as a means of damage control and maintaining a positive public relations
images.
History
Aspen Dental’s history started in Syracuse, New YorkSyracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, at a dental lab called Upstate Dental, which began operations in 1964. In 1981, Upstate Dental merged its lab services with centralized management services to initiate the new dental practice management concept. The company became Upstate Dental Management, LLC in 1997 when an investor acquired Upstate Family Denture Services, Inc., Upstate Denture Labs, Inc. and East Coast Dental Management, Inc. The last step in the creation of Aspen Dental came in 1998 when Upstate Dental and East Coast Dental merged and agreed on a common name: Aspen Dental Management, Inc.
Today
Aspen Dental serves approximately 1.5 million dental patients at more than 250 office locations in 21 states: ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, Washington and Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
.
Each office has certified oral hygienists, dentists and oral surgeons for general dental care. Additional offerings include: emergency and major cosmetic dental care, crowns, bridges and oral surgery. They also have a line of proprietary dentures called Comfidents. Aspen Dental accepts most dental insurance
Dental insurance
Dental insurance is a type of health insurance designed to pay a portion of the costs associated with dental care. There are several different types of individual, family, or group dental insurance plans grouped into three primary categories: Indemnity which allows you to see any dentist you want...
plans, and has a variety of payment options and low-cost services
Aspen Dental Jobs is a professional career resource offering dentists, dental specialists, hygienists, lab technicians and support staff to search dental professional openings online within Aspen Dental’s network of 250 office locations in 21 states across the U.S.
Aspen Outreach
Aspen Dental has programs in place to provide low- or no-cost dental care to financially burdened patients: reduced fees for dental services and discounts to unemployed United Auto WorkersUnited Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
members.
In 2009, Aspen Dental launched an initiative with Oral Health America to battle oral cancer
Oral cancer
Oral cancer is a subtype of head and neck cancer, is any cancerous tissue growth located in the oral cavity. It may arise as a primary lesion originating in any of the oral tissues, by metastasis from a distant site of origin, or by extension from a neighboring anatomic structure, such as the...
. Activities for this partnership consisted of oral health education and an oral cancer prevention program for the Little League Baseball World Series
Security Incident
Aspen Dental notified customer by postal mail that between October 3rd and October 6th, the payment section of their website was not SSL protected.The problem was originally brought to Aspen Dental's attention on Otober 5th by a Twitter post and a phone call to a regional manager.
Aspen Dental maintains that the lapse in security was resolved within 60 minutes, but the publicly available twitter posts show that is not the case.
Aspen Dental has employed Kroll Fraud Solutions to handle identity theft related to this incident. The letter sent out by Aspen Dental had both company's name at the top of it. Kroll has also been made aware of the possibly inaccurate statements regarding how long it took to resolve the issue.
Criticism
Aspen Dental's business model has drawn considerable scrutiny from both consumers as well as dental professionals in private practice. Many consumer review websites on the internet are filled with complaints which often revolve around the practices Aspen Dental uses to up-sellUp-selling
Upselling is a sales technique whereby a seller induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale. Upselling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products but can also be simply exposing the customer to...
their customers on expensive and often unnecessary procedures and dental treatments.
The practice of developing treatment plans for their patients and offering to arrange financing in house leads many patients to experience sticker shock when an itemized bill of suggested treatment plans can total several thousand dollars. The company regularly receives low rankings on consumer review sites such as Yelp, Google Local, and Insider Pages
Insider Pages
Insider Pages is an online "local search" service operated by IAC/InterActiveCorp.Before its acquisition by IAC the company was based in Redwood Shores, California, and had over 600,000 reviews of local merchants around the country. Insider Pages was founded by Stuart MacFarlane in 2004...
. In addition, further frustration grows from consumers who feel the company uses scare tactics
Scare Tactics
Scare Tactics is a hidden camera/comedy television show, produced by Hallock Healey Entertainment. Its first two seasons aired from April 2003 to December 2004. After a hiatus, the show returned for a third season, beginning July 9, 2008. The first season of the show was hosted by Shannen Doherty....
and pushy sales methods to sell more services and extra items such as electric toothbrushes exceeding $150.00 USD.
The corporate business model of the company conflicts with many dentist's personal views, ethics and draws debate as to their obligations under Hippocratic Oath
Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine ethically. It is widely believed to have been written by Hippocrates, often regarded as the father of western medicine, or by one of his students. The oath is written in...
. Many dental professionals feel the heavy-selling, profit-first business model conflicts with looking out for a the patient's best interests. Their business model results in a high turnover rate, leading to many of their technicians, dentists and hygienists being inexperienced and freshly out of school with student loans. Their position with Aspen Dental puts pressure on them to sell as many dental-related services as possible in order to maximize profits. Many former and current employees have attested on various internet websites as to their personal experience with the company, mostly revolving around a theme that offices are typically run inefficiently and profit is placed before a patient's best interest.
The company appears to hire representatives to monitor online review and consumer websites for negative publicity and reply from a standardized list of responses as a means of damage control and maintaining a positive public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
images.