I am not a person to write negative reviews, in fact this may be the only one I ever have in my whole account history, but I checked reviews for Aspire before I chose them, and if I had seen anything like my experience, I would not have come.
I’ll start with the topline, which is that I was told by this practice that I have twelve cavities, and it turns out I have zero. I had just moved and had a filling break and fall out, which put me in a position of needing to get a new dentist quickly near my new home. Despite being clear this was why I was at their practice, the team seemed focused on basically everything else possible, and their main area of concern seemed to be how to get the most money from me. I was told by Aspire that I had twelve cavities, and they tried to get me to commit to a plan to drill four of them in one visit and then go on to drill all of them. I got a second and third opinion, both from a family member who is a dentist and then from another local dentist with a good reputation. It was verified through X-rays that I have zero cavities. Not twelve, not even five or six cavities. ZERO. Both other dentists confirmed that I have a missing filling and another filling cracked by that incident, and that is it. My new local dentist requested that Aspire send them the X-rays taken at their office, but they mysteriously failed to do so by the time of my appointment.
There were a number of other red flags during my appointment, which luckily alerted me that something was off by the time that they tried to get me to commit to a plan to drill almost a third of my teeth. The moment I stepped into the practice, they seemed aggressively focused on trying to sell me on extra services that were not covered, such as an $140 gum treatment that I have never heard of, holistic treatments, and a periodontal cleaning that my second opinion dentist told me I did not need, but which increased my price. When I told the hygienist that I’d like to look into the gum treatment further before having it done, she condescendingly told the dentist over my head that I didn’t want to get it done “because of the price,” and then both of them again pressured me to do it.
Additional things I was told I needed:
- A costly mouthguard made by the dentist, because I grind my teeth. (I do not grind my teeth, confirmed by both second and third opinion dentists.)
- A root canal on the tooth that lost the filling. Was also very questionably told that I “probably” just needed a new filling, but “she’d have to see” once she started drilling and she may need to decide whether to do a root canal on the day. I have no doubt now how that would have turned out! Was told by the other dentists that I need a simple filling replacement.
- Orthodontal work. My teeth are straight.
- Whitening. This is a standard sell from most dentists, but at this point I was finding it hard to get them to talk to me about my area of concern, which was that my filling had fallen out.
- Veneers. This was the last straw for me, since in the same breath as mentioning emergency dentistry, the dentist said, “And then once you get all your emergency work done, you’d be a great candidate for veneers.” New dentist laughed and said, “At $1,000 a tooth? I bet!”
- Funny enough, the dentist at Aspire checked my jaw and declared confidently that I don’t have TMJ or jaw issues. I do have chronic TMJ and have been treated for this for almost 10 years. New dentist clocked this right away, as have all my previous dentists.
- They also double charged me! I had to wait to write this review until they had refunded my money for charging my card twice.
Coming to Aspire for emergency dentistry, I was in a really vulnerable position, and it was shocking to me how predatory they were. I am not someone who is resistant to services, but I am grateful that I trusted my instincts in this case. Keep your wallet close and keep your purse in your lap if you visit this practice!
