This review isn't to try to sway anyone towards or away from Aspen, but instead gives you an insight into MY experience at aspen as a dentist. First and foremost Aspen is a DSO, plain and simple, regardless of what they say its primary goal is to make money, under the guise of "breaking barriers" for treatment. As a newly graduated dentist, Aspen seemed like a good fit for me. I thought I valued the ability to just go into an office do dentistry and go home. I was SO wrong. The regional manager who contacted me gave me an option of two locations. He sold me on one location more than the other, based on the amazing "mentorship" I would received by the lead dentist. That turned out to be false. Working with the lead dentist was a nightmare. She barely mentored let alone could keep up with doing the procedures needed for the practice to succeed. I lasted at that location 5 months before I threatened to leave due to how horrible of a dentist colleague the person was. She would change my treatment plans that she didn't agree with, not because they were wrong but because they were different then what she would do. She would talk about me behind my back. Towards the end of my time at that location, she told the assistants I was not to see any new patients. That was the last straw. There was one incident where she was behind on a procedure, and she wanted me to see a new patient that had been waiting. I told the DA that I wouldn't be seeing any new patients or doing h
I worked for Management team for just under 4 months. I cried myself to sleep and on my way to work for the last 3 months.
When I interviewed for the position they asked if I was ok with overtime, and okay with Saturdays. I said yes. Once I started the position they gave me my schedule and I worked Monday-Thursday + Saturday. Oh, we also had mandatory overtime every Monday and Tuesday with no excuses. If your shift starts at 8:30 or later we had to come in an hour early, if it started earlier than 8:30 you needed to stay an hour late. The way that it was described to us during interview (which I have spoken to other employees who feel they were lead to believe the same thing) was that the overtime would be occasional and would be on Saturdays.
I could not work Saturdays for personal reasons and put in a change of shift from Saturday to a Monday-Friday shift instead the second I got my schedule. Everybody who put in their change after me got theirs accepted while I sat there waiting for it to be changed which never happened (I emailed weekly and they said they're working on it. So why then were people who put in requests after me getting theirs changed?)
We are expected to take 10 calls per hour, have a 98% call quality, and a conversion rate of 50% or higher.
While in training they gave "helpful scripting" that we could use to help during calls, but were told to be natural and make it your own. We did. However, we got points deducted if we did not follow their
Don't let the easy training fool you, its not worth it.
Sorry this is about to be long but here's the honest truth.
They will hire anyone, you dont get drug tested or background checked or anything because their turnover rate is so high. They bring in a new training class of about 12-15 people almost every 3 weeks.
You go through 2 weeks for training. The first week you're meeting everyone on the 3rd floor and having fun, not really learning much. The second week you being to learn what Aspen sells, you listen in on actual phone calls, you learn specific scripting you have to use on every call. 3rd week you go out onto the floors and start to take actual calls while being closely monitored by the team leads. By about your 4th week or so you have to become certified and you do a call test with your trainer to make sure you are handling your calls correctly.
Now, once you become certified and put on a specific team. You're on your own. You are taking calls from patients all over the country who are 9/10 times in pain and are yelling at you for 8 hours a day nonstop. It is very high stress.
Also management preaches this "bonus" program where you can earn up to 600$ a month.. not true. No one gets the bonus. Your calls are graded. You get points off if you do not follow the exact scripting they gave, although you are constantly told to take the scripting and make it your own. 500 different things go into getting a bonus, it makes it completely impossible.
A huge thing here is Conversion. Everything is about your conversion
ProsFree stuff in the break room occasionally, friendly coworkers
ConsStressful, no room for advancement, dont properly prepare you
1.0
Patient Services Representative | Valparaiso, IN | Apr 2, 2015
Poor teamwork and no patience for new hires.
RUN! ...I was hired in as a full time PSR. Was actually pretty excited about it, but after working here for about a month with absolutely no training at all, and coming home crying and complaining to my spouse just about everyday, I called it quits. I am not a person to quit without notice either. I learned all the stuff there basically on my own. The management talked very highly of the benefits which it may or may not have been true, but after hearing from several Aspen employees that the benefits really aren't that good and basically not really getting what I originally signed up for, did me in. That was a big reason why I took the job. I had other jobs lined up, as well. Don't let them fool you! It was also very cliquy, as well.
My experience was just awful. I'll start from the beginning. I was placed at an office I was originally suppose to be trained at but after about a week of learning nothing, the PSR at the time decided they didn't want to train me anymore. So I was placed in this office, which I was originally hired in for, which was fine. But after about a week or two, I am still without proper training. Money was very limited for me so I couldn't travel to different offices for my training (which they love to do but again, that is not what I signed up for). So for about 3 weeks, I had no training but still answered phones, scheduled appointments, etc, which made me cringe! It's not that I was doubting my work but as someone who's somewhat of a perfectionist, it
ProsHour Lunch
ConsPoor teamwork, no patience for new hires, lacks respect, money hungry
The pros here are same with any DSO , ie. Working to help patients. That being said , I can confidently say you would be able to do this at ANY other company and be a lot happier and healthier for it. I know it’s normal to think “no this won’t happen to me, my experience will be different” but there are over 600 reviews on here , and the experiences are pretty consistent ... don’t bet your life and your worth here. Check out and interview at any other company first. You owe it to yourself to do due diligence.
I’m going to try to provide you with as honest, objective and truthful insight into this company and what your experience will likely entail. I have been with the company a few years now, and I can objectively say that the number one priority here is money. In addition the culture at all levels of management is profoundly toxic. Management decisions with regard to practice operations , hiring, and policy are all foundationed on obtaining as much profit as possible at the expense of ethics, staff wellness , good business decisions, patient welfare , and open communication.
It is standard policy to say or do anything fictional to get dentists, dental assistants and managers to sign on. And then squeeze for as much profit as possible. Working extended hours without pay, seeing over 20 patients in the span of 4 hours , pressuring patients to finance treatment, hiring unqualified staff to be manager of practices (and then not allow them to complete their training) are
ProsHelping people, occasional free dinners
ConsToxic people, poor culture, no work life balance
This corp is so top heavy it's insane. They have managers managing managers who are managed by other managers who are just concerned about the bottom line. Often they'll visit the office talking about lofty production numbers while refusing to add the pieces required to make it happen since it costs money. Compensation is a joke, they have about 50 "expense" line items between how much the office produces and they manipulate it to keep as much money in their own pockets as possible. In fact, they actually had to go back and pay me more after I found that some of these line items were incorrect/artificially inflated. Who knows how much I lost from the times I didn't catch these discrepancies.
Patient care is mediocre and office dependent. Hard to take care of patients the right way when you have 3 or 4 others waiting in chairs, but that's what makes the most money.
Staffing is terrible, they basically welcome turnover since it is often an opportunity to hire someone for lower pay and who doesn't know what they're getting into. There were times my staff threatened to leave and it wasn't until I went to bat for them that they got a reasonable pay raise. I kid you not when I say the average amount of time somebody is at the company in most offices is only a few months. We went over for lunch and at the end of the day constantly and then after that you still would have to do notes for everything that you didn't have time to do earlier. They had so much turnover not
Aspen Dental was by far my worst job experience. I was the Office Sales Manager. I was constantly pressured to sell patients treatment they didn't need and couldn't afford. Aspen positions itself in communities that are typically poor or lower middle class, so much of the patient population is unable to afford expensive procedures yet the doctors were under constant pressure to write treatment plans as aggressively as possible. They were often told to refuse treatment unless the patient agreed to the entire plan. I was also written up for refusing to add a $200 toothbrush to every treatment plan and refusing to pressure poor people into buying it. I can't stress enough that if you work for this company they're going to expect you to do highly unethical things, to lie to patients, employ scare tactics, etc. whatever is necessary to get the patient to commit to the full treatment plan. For example, my mother who sees the dentist every six months and also sees periodontist was told her gums were so bad that she needed to have all of her teeth removed and wear dentures. Her periodontist said that was completely and totally ridiculous. That was three year ago, and she still has all her teeth. Had she been a patient I would've been pressured to shame her into needlessly having a full mouth extraction.
The hours are often long because you come in at 9:00 but can't leave until the last patient leaves. If the doctor has someone scheduled at 5 or 5:30, you can easily wind up being
ProsThere really are none
ConsUnethical practices, pay, hours, the company itself, lying to employees, lying to patients...
If I could give this employer ZERO stars, I absolutely would. They are in the business for one reason only, and that is to make money, often times by upcoding, overdiagnosing and billing out for services never rendered. They are a shady, unethical batch and are in the practice of ripping off trusting people who don't know any better. For me personally, I couldn't stomach lying awake at night thinking about the shady things I was not asked, but told to do during my employment there. The doctors are quite uneducated about periodontal disease and its proper treatment as well as the new inflammation prophylaxis code and general periodontal maintenance. Debridement is a foreign word to them so don't plan on achieving accurate readings while perio charting on a patient with heavy sub calc. They are consistently pumping out $4-5 THOUSAND dollar cleaning treatment plans to people, many of whom are on a fixed income. It's complete and utter overkill and is an absolute disservice to the patient. But they could really care less about patient care. Again, it's all about the money. They commit insurance fraud left and right to the point where it becomes hard to believe that they haven't been sued and shut down. After some further digging and research, however, it won't take you long to discover that they HAVE been sued, MULTIPLE times by MULTIPLE states. Definitely NOT a company you want to be associated with. In addition to their unethical practices, their medical benef
ProsOften provided with free lunches
ConsUnethical, Severe Lack of Communication, Terrible Benefits, Undesirable Hours, Money Driven, No Voice
It is a great place to work, IF and that is a big IF you have a great Doctor. Manager and overall team at your office. That amazing team dynamic is what will make the long busy fast paced days, worth it. Because believe me when you work in corporate dentistry you have to be able to work at a fast paced and often times under a little pressure. I was a PSR first, then assistant, I left the company for a few years then came back as an Office Manager. The team I worked with when I was a PSR was amazing, as well as the Manager. The Doctor was quiet and kept to himself and really was the only complaint among the other staff members.
The team I had as an office manager, again.. amazing. Great Dr. great assistants and Hygienists.. and I know for a fact they would rate me highly as an OM, because I received compliments multiple times from several team members that they enjoyed having me as their Office Manager. Back to the IF... and the reason why I left, I was put under a new Regional manager and my original Regional Manager transferred to the next district over. This new RM was impossible to work under, and I mean impossible. She came off as loud fun bright and a real motivator who didn't take no for an answer, which was awesome at first. Then her true colors started to show.
She was new into her role, and I am sure she was feeling a lot of pressure herself. Because lets face it, if an Office isnt doing well or is having a slow month, the District Manager looks bad, then he
ProsGreat opportunity for growth, if you can handle a no work life balance.
ConsToo much pressure on Office Managers
3.0
Patient Services Representative | Houma, LA | Jul 13, 2021
As honest as I can be.
I left aspen about a month ago. I wanted to wait to write this review so I had time to think and I wasn’t reviewing out of anger. I worked at aspen for a few months and I loved the job. It was easy, fulfilling, and overall very enjoyable. If you’re someone who likes a routine as far as actual work, this is for you. You walk in and do the same things every morning and it’s very easy to settle into. The days breeze by. It was a very difficult decision to leave but I realized it wasn’t for me. Firstly, this job has A LOT of travel involved. Now, you may be thinking “isn’t this an entry level office job? How is there travel involved?” I thought the same thing. I was required to travel 500 miles away to Mississippi to train. I was driving there on Sunday, working the week, driving home on Friday, and back on Sunday. Every week. I put thousands of miles on my vehicle. But I stuck it out because I believed in the company. My regional manager was awesome, understanding, and supportive. She took the extra time to make me feel heard and I appreciate that still. After training I thought I was done with traveling. But after a week in my home office, before I could even settle in, I was asked to travel to a location that was an hour away. Being a team player, I agreed. Even though it was a huge inconvenience for me as I needed to be home by a certain time and now had another hour on my commute home (not including traffic). The very next day I was asked to go again and this time I said “no
ProsHour long lunches, laid back office environment, getting to know the patients, supportive management
ConsLow pay for what is asked of you, constant traveling, not upfront about travel in the interview, LOADS of very angry patients.
Questions And Answers about Aspen Dental
If you were in charge, what would you do to make Aspen Dental a better place to work?
Asked Mar 13, 2017
When you want to know why an office is "negative"and "dramatic" ask more then just the office manager! Ask the people you're calling negative to find out why!
Answered Oct 19, 2021
Dont same a employee for catching covid or being sick. Have good communication lines with all employees. Check in on them. Make sure the teams working as a team and everyone is carrying there load not just a couple.
Answered Feb 8, 2021
What is the best part of working at Aspen Dental?
Asked Nov 28, 2019
Patient relation only!
Answered Nov 18, 2020
The Saturday & Sunday off
Answered Nov 17, 2020
What advice would you give the CEO of Aspen Dental about how to improve it?
Asked Mar 13, 2017
The pay is HORRIBLE for the amount of work we do! FOCUS on what the DA’s tell you! GET RID OF THE CALL CENTER! They only cause angry patients! Da’s Run the office! PAY THEM MORE! You should focus on DA retention!!! The turnover rate is sickening and patients hate it! Pay more! Let the office do their own scheduling so we can accommodate doctors preferences! PAY MORE! PAY MORE!!! PAY MORE!!! And more money needs to be available so we can stock the shelves with product!
Answered Oct 14, 2020
Instead of offering a million dollars in referral bonuses, put that money into retaining your current employees.
Answered Sep 4, 2020
How flexible are your working hours at Aspen Dental?
Asked Apr 8, 2020
Not flexible at all and sometimes you have to stay late to accommodate patients. You are expected to do this without complaining.
Answered Nov 18, 2020
Not flexible at all the schedule is 7:15am to 5:30
Answered Nov 17, 2020
Does Aspen offer paid training?
Asked Jan 17, 2017
Training is a joke at Aspen. Expect little to no support and absent management who won't respond to your request for help.
