To any dentist considering working for Aspen Dental, I submit the following for your consideration:
I worked for Aspen Dental as a Managing Clinical Director in the Pacific NW for (3) months in 2016. I graduated dental school in 2014 and have worked for a couple other corporate DMOs (Heartland Dental, Western Dental). Aspen is by far the worst working experience I have had thus far. I now find myself in private practice, and the fruits of the private practice tree are even sweeter than I imagined they would be.
I was offered the position after a single phone interview. I knew at that point, and from Aspen’s reputation, that I was not accepting a long term position. I was moving from a distant state and used my time at Aspen as a means of subsidizing my personal cash flow while I sought more definitive job opportunities in my new state. Once I found a good job, I put in my notice and quit.
In less than three months, the ENTIRE office staff either quit or put in their notice. Turnover is quite high, due to low pay and long hours. The company does little things like handing out $5 gift cards to Bennigan’s when a Front Desk assistant schedules $10,000 worth of treatment. Ya know, to MOTIVATE their employees. Because nothing says “You’re a valued member of the team” like some free mozzarella sticks.
I went to a single training event for Aspen and everyone had to stand and introduce ourselves. Those that had been with the company longer than a year were like how grandpa cooks his steak; very rare. Plus, nothing energizes a Saturday afternoon periodontal treatment brainwashing session like having 75 people stand up in succession and say “I’m Jennifer, and I’ve been with Aspen for 3 months!”
Now, down to the brass tacks.
Let’s talk money.
All corporate dental entities exist solely to undercut the profits and compensation of the treating dentist. Aspen takes this to a whole new level with their concept of “Profit Sharing”. Grab a lunch and get comfortable kiddos, because this rabbit hole runs DEEP.
Heartland Dental pays 25% of personal collections for the work a dentist does. Heartland has many devious ways to undercut your paycheck, but overall it is a straight forward approach. If I produce $100,000 of dentistry and have an office that collects 95%, I would get paid $23,750 for that month of work.
My first full month at Aspen Dental I produced $100,000 of dentistry. I was paid $12,000. How can this be? Two words: Profit Sharing
This is how it works. As an MCD, you get paid off the “profits” of the office. The percentage of this sharing is determined by a rating/satisfaction system you have no control over. This percentage can be 16-20%. It is usually on the lower end of things, because your patients hate you and the office. Operating expenses are usually $40,000-$50,000 for the month. This gets cut off the top before they “share”. Oh, and the $10,000 you had to refund because the previous doctor hated his job and started mailing it in? That comes off the top as well. What was once $120,000 (doctor and hygiene) is now $75,000. As the dentist, you are entitled to 16-20% of that number. 16% of $75,000 is $12,000. That’s what YOU get. The rest is for Mr. Fontana’s new fleet of speed boats, and to put tires on Danica Patrick’s racecar (If you become an owner, you might get to meet Danica Patrick!!! #lifeCHANGINGmoment).
If you have a social media account, you probably have a friend that is trying to sell you some new protein powder because this stuff is going to “CHANGE YOUR LIFE!”. Once this friend changes your life, he/she is going to try and get you to sell protein powder to your circle of friends. This is known as “multi-level marketing”. Aspen Dental is the multi-level marketing entity of the dental world. This system only works out for the practice owners and MCDs that have associate drones pumping out dentistry for them. It doesn’t work for doctors in a single provider practice. You need to have someone else selling your protein powder for you.
A typical day at Aspen Dental involves a hefty amount of denture work, performed on patients that hate you. Did I mention the patients hate you? Don’t take it personal, you’re just the fourth doctor they have seen in the past 6 months; because I quit, and the guy before me quit, and you will quit. Most Aspen Dental denture patients are older people on a limited income. They see the advertisements for the “$399 Denture” and come in looking for that. Known as “The Basic”, Aspen’s $399 denture is exactly the quality one would expect it to be. I believe it’s made out of old tennis balls and ground up bovine body parts. It is the “Hot Dog of Dentures”. The patients get upsold into a “Comfilyte” or a “Naturalyte” denture at a higher price. For the higher price, they expect you to deliver a denture that can chew through a work boot. Aspen wants you to make these dentures without a custom tray impression. I spoke to one of their clinical directors, and she attempted to explain to me that alginate impressions in a stock tray were just as accurate as a properly border molded VPS impression in a custom tray. If you like having to do an immediate lab reline on every denture delivery because it falls out of the patient’s mouth, then I would agree that alginate is the way to go.
All the prosthodontic work goes through their “Central Lab” in Syracuse. The “Central Lab” is just a processing facility that ships your lab work to China. My Office Manager used to tell the patient’s we were shipping their cases back east to Syracuse and that was why the process took as long as it did. “We ship them out east…so far east that they circle the globe and end up in China.” All frameworks and crown cases are fabricated in China. Other denture work is done by your in-house Lab Technician. They can be good or bad, but the overall quality of lab tech reflects the desirability of the position. Spoiler alert, it’s not a very desirable position.
There are no offices for the doctors that work at Aspen Dental. The office manager has an office, but there’s no space for the doctor. You get to either hide in an unused operatory, or sit out front so the angry patients can stare you down as they leave. It’s ok, though. That patient will get to stare down a new doctor soon…
Aspen does a “Free Exam and X-rays” promotion. They run 80-100 new patients per month through an office, and they only have ONE x-ray head. There are no heads in any of the operatories. If you are doing RCT on a patient, you have to wait for the 18 film FMX to finish up before your dental assistant can walk your patient all the way across the building with the rubber damn on and take a radiograph. I complete most anterior endo in approximately 20 minutes. It took me 2 hours to do a routine RCT on tooth #10 at Aspen.
This review is for the MCD position. The Associate position is even worse. When you’re the associate, NOBODY is going to sell your protein powder for you. You’re taking home your daily rate, and nothing more. Not ever.
If it paid the same, I would rather spend 8 hours a day on the back of a garbage truck than be a dentist for Aspen Dental. At least I would be removing rubbish from people’s lives, instead of charging them thousands of dollars to put trash in their mouth.
