On 12/23/2024, I posted this to my Micro.blog and laughed a bit at how this dental office just had a walk-in available. I was literally in the area and figured I’d get my 2nd cleaning of the year taken care of. The thing is, I thought I’d just schedule it and they said they could see me now.
This was Aspen Dental at 257 Plainfield Rd West Lebanon, NH 03784 (603) 298-8099
I sat there for an hour before they squeezed me in and performed a cleaning. I gave them my insurance card and left with clean teeth. It was a pleasant experience. I recognize this place is a chain but it was really convenient. I even scheduled a follow up appointment for Summer.
On 1/28, I received a bill for $494:
- 12/23/24 Exam Periodic $72.00
- 12/23/24 Periapical 1st Rdgrphc Image $46.00
- 12/23/24 Periapical Addl Rdgrphc Image $38.00
- 12/23/24 Periapical Addl Rdgrphc Image $38.00
- 12/23/24 Bitewing Four Rdgrphic Images $95.00
- 12/23/24 Topical Fluoride Varnish $54.00
- 12/23/24 Scaling W/mod/sev Inflammation $151.00
- 12/23/24 Fluoride 1.1 Neutral Sod Gel $40.00
- Totals for ADAM $534.00
The only thing I was annoyed with before receiving this bill is paying $40 for toothpaste that, had I just requested a prescription would have cost $10 at the local pharmacy. I won’t make that mistake again but now I have two issues.
The issue is I have insurance and they didn’t process it. I checked with my insurance company and they had not received a claim so I called 833-902-4848 and gave Aspen my information and they asked for my insurance information. I thought it was done but when I logged into my account at http://aspendental.com/pay they still showed a balance. I also checked and no claim was submitted. I called back and repeated the steps.
Every week for 5 weeks, I have re-done this process twice a week. Sometimes they send me to the local office and I leave a message, sometimes they call the local office for me and say they’ve passed on the information and sometimes they promise to call me back.
Over the course of 5 weeks, I’ve been on hold for hours and each time the person on the phone says they have no insurance on file for me.
I even went into this location twice and physically gave them my insurance card which they’d scan and say it would be taken care of.
Today, I received a new bill from them but this time it says, “This is your FINAL NOTICE. Your account is at risk of being placed in collections. Please pay the balance due immediately.”
I called again and the person on the phone transferred me to the local office which went to voice mail. I called back and they said they’d call me back. My insurance still has not received a claim and has even called on my behalf a few times but gotten nowhere.
So I’m giving this one more week and I’m going to suck it up and pay $494 for a dental cleaning at a place I don’t even really have any loyalty to except they had a walk-in appointment and were located next door to a Starbucks.
Aspen Dental will not be seeing me this Summer for my appointment. I’m going to be a no-show. It’s the least I can do in protest.