ASPEN DENTAL Stay Away from Aspen Dental! Torrington Connecticut

My dental HMO, Cigna, has very few options for dentists so I am stuck with Aspen until I can change my coverage in November.

I went in - I wanted a cleaning. But they would not provide it. They needed to do a "periodic exam". Lo and behold, I have several cavities, need a 12 month old crown replaced, have periodontal disease, etc. They give me a "treatment plan" and tell me I have great insurance which will cover most of my treatment. So I'm thinking I shell out one or two hundred bucks. However, the total is about $4000 with my share at about $1800.

I told them I need to call them back - I don't want to schedule anything. Looking at the treatment plan, they have included non-covered items at inflated prices, such as a $50 flouride rinse and a tube of toothpaste that is somehow worth about $30. They did not ask me what kind of fillings I wanted - they included the most expensive composite ones.

The whole operation feels like a used-car dealership. It pains me to know that the majority of their clientele are lower-income people without a lot of education who end up getting shafted without even realizing it. It's just like Rent-A-Center for your mouth. Ugh. I don't know how dentists who take the Hippocratic Oath can work at a place like this and sleep at night.

Then visit another provider to get a second opinion [without saying WHY you are visiting that second provider] and have the second provider provide an appraisal of your situation. Then compare the two stories. Root canals, for example, are not fun and the tooth will then be dead and will likely need a crown because dead teeth tend to be brittle.

You should investigate services like Care Credit before you make any commitments to understand what you are walking into. Right now, you will have a lot of trouble walking back out. Haste makes waste.