Aspen Dental

December 12, 2019

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to share my experience with the Aspen Dental location located in Festus, MO. I originally went to this office for a second opinion regarding a bridge in my 3 front teeth that was loose and needed to be replaced. My first visit was in early 2018. My first visit was great, the staff was great, the manager Randy was great, and Dr. Davis was great.
We made a plan to replace my bridge with a 6 piece bridge and began the preparation for this.
When it was time to get the new bridge placed, this was 8/23/18, there was a doctor filling in for Dr. Davis, he was of Latino decent, I do not know his name, but they had sent Dr. Davis to cover an office in Illinois and asked this other doctor to fill in.
When this doctor took off my temporary bridge, he did not numb my gums at all before he decided to inject me with the anesthesia in my front gums. This caused excruciating pain and I was crying very heavily during the visit.
He placed the new bridge and from what I could tell everything was okay. However, after a few days my mouth was still extremely sore, I had sensitivity in my canine posts for the bridge that did not allow me to eat anything hot or cold, and I had to drink everything from a straw. Anything that touched these areas sent a shock of pain. I did contact Aspen Dental to let them know of my pain and they said to wait it out and it should get better.
Time went by and I still had no relief so I went to see another dentist elsewhere. This dentist revealed that my bridge was not put in correctly and the whole thing needed to be replaced. He advised me to go back to Aspen Dental and ask them to correct this, otherwise I would have to pay for a brand new bridge with their office completely out of pocket and we both felt Aspen Dental should be responsible for the poor quality of work.
I took his advice and went back to Aspen Dental, I explained what happened to Dr. Davis, he looked at the bridge and agreed that the bridge should have never been placed, it did not fit correctly, my teeth under the bridge supporting it were exposed and that is what was causing all the pain and sensitivity. He agreed that the whole bridge needed to be replaced. He stated since it was the fault of the dentist at Aspen Dental that I would not be charged for the replacement bridge.
I had to start the whole process over again and I had my new bridge placed early 2019. This bridge is much better and I am now pain free.
I have just received a bill for the services from the original bridge in 08/2018. I do not feel that I should be responsible for this amount which is $1, 590.60. I paid money out of pocket and this is way more than I was quoted to be expected to pay. I understand that you do not know the full amount due until insurance actually pays, but the fact that this bill is coming a year and a half later, and all of the pain and suffering I had to endure due to the poor work of the dentist, that I should not be responsible for this amount. They also mentioned at check I received from the insurance company that was sent to my house instead of their office for about $800, I called the current manager at the time (Randy) recently after my 1st visit there to see if they were supposed to receive that check, and she said nope, there is no balance on your account you are all good to go.
I am asking that this amount be reduced or that I can be put on a payment plan so that I do not get sent to collections. I have called the office at Aspen Dental several times, there is always a new manager and staff working and I get a different story regarding my bill every single time I call. Since my first visit there, all original staff has changed including management and it has been very hard to get my story heard.

I went through over a year of pain and suffering and embarrassment of having to have a temporary bridge 2x for 2 months each while my new bridge was being prepped, and it was an awful experience all around. I will not be returning to Aspen Dental, I do not feel they can be trusted for quality care, at least at the Festus, MO location.

I appreciate your time and understanding in this matter. Please let me know how I can proceed so that my account does not go into collections for a balance that is over a year old that I am just receiving the bill for. If it was quality work and I had no issues, I would have no problem paying this, however it was one of the worst experiences of my life with dental work. Today a regional manager called me and again didn't apologize or acknowledge my complaint, just told me my account was going to collections. No assistance or apology offered whatsoever.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Mora
[protected]
[protected]@yahoo.com
857 Stone Gate Drive
Desoto, MO 63020