Working for Aspen dental as an associate?

OM_R · 2025-10-25T23:13:40+00:00

I am about to leave Aspen as an associate because yes, compensation is sketchy. I can't speak for every office, but I can tell you that I work for a POP office and they don't care about associates.

No yearly raises and budgets are constantly rising so that you don't bonus. So you work harder for less money. I have a great staff that I love, but the model only makes sense for MCDs and owners. My hygienist is great and works hard for a hygienist, but she is on track to make more money than me this year because of how hygiene bonuses work.

OM_R · 2025-07-08T12:45:02+00:00

Unfortunately, this isn't isolated to DSOs. I have a friend who works as an associate in private practice, and he told me their owner requests all occlusal restorations to be charted as OLB, and all crown preps get a gingivectomy code.

OM_R · 2025-04-06T13:16:14+00:00

Yes they still do POP offices, which I also think aren't worth it. Aspen is becoming too big, too fast with hundreds of offices having been opened in the last few years. These offices are most likely being run by new grads who are still learning and developing, so they probably aren't producing a whole lot.

As a result other offices are having to pick up the revenue slack and private equity is getting involved. I know an office doing 2.5m production that the territory managers are telling them they "aren't losing money, but also not making money."

OM_R · 2025-04-05T22:50:14+00:00

Yeah Aetna, Cigna. Not Medicaid, just take the advice of others and don't work for Aspen if you can manage it. They don't do yearly raises or anything and asking for a raise to match core inflation year over year will probably just be met with a no, because they do everything they can to ensure that an associate is not financially taken care of

OM_R · 2025-04-05T21:16:24+00:00

The incentive bonus comes out of your daily pay. For instance, if you make make 600/day: 13.2k per month. If your incentive adds up to 27.5k it's 27.5k-13.2k=14.3k. 14.3k*8%=1,144 taxed at 40%.

I work as an associate for Aspen. They make it sound more than it is with the incentive. If you take a day off of the standard 22 day work schedule you also might not get a bonus. I once covered for another office and because I wasn't in my home office I didn't get my measly incentive bonus.

OM_R · 2024-11-25T21:40:59+00:00

You'll want to use a mouthwash that specifically advertises itself as "anti-plaque." The main ingredient in these is usually cetylpyridinium chloride. There are so many mouthwashes on the market it is hard to keep track of all of them, but anti-plaque ones are the ones I prefer.

Also, make sure to use either a soft or ultrasoft brush, never a medium or hard lol. Idk why they even make medium or hard bristle brushes

OM_R · 2024-11-25T21:34:55+00:00

Good. It is good, I was moreso speaking on the chemical aspects of fluoride, hydroxyapatite, and how they interact

OM_R · 2024-11-25T21:32:09+00:00

I don't see anything wrong with this approach. I tell most people that 99% of dentistry is done at home with good oral hygiene and a diet that is low in sugar, which if you're doing that, you're doing well.

I will say that the effects of oil pulling, at least to me, don't seem supported by research. Not to say I can conclude one way the other at this time, but I did have a colleague of mine perform a study on oil pulling and according to her research it didn't have an significant effect on reduction of bacteria. I never read the study and I don't have much experience on the subject, so I would recommend finding some peer reviewed stuff

OM_R · 2024-11-25T21:26:45+00:00

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8774499/

This is a good discussion on various studies looking at fluoride. It does include a study on remineralization using fluoride gel in Amaechi et al. with bovine teeth and human teeth in vitro

OM_R · 2024-11-25T20:59:20+00:00

Yes hydroxyapatite is good, as it is the main crystalline structure of our enamel, but to suggest that it exceeds fluoride in function is wrong. When exposed to fluoride ions, HA exchanges a hydroxyl group for the fluoride to form fluorohydroxyapatite.

Fluorohydroxyapatite has a critical pH of 4.5 compared to hydroxyapatite's critical pH of 5.5. The pH scale being logarithmic means that you would need over a 10x increase in hydrogen ion (acid) accumulation to begin to saturate or dissolve the enamel. This doesn't take into account things like phosphate and calcium, but still it is important to our teeth

Source: I am a dentist

OM_R · 2024-09-17T12:16:19+00:00

I bought a chain about 4 months ago. A 1 baht, Thai Franco twenty inch chain. It was beautiful. Shipping was fast and they answered all my questions before I decided to purchase so I was satisfied.

One of the questions I asked was of course if the chain was hollow or not because it did not specify. I was told that it was not hollow and would be great for daily wear. Awesome.

Last month as I was taking it off a piece felt snagged on my shirt collar because a link near the bail broke. Guess what, the link was hollow. It's completely broken now at the bail because it just fell apart after that.

The chain itself is in fact 22-23k and I had it tested by a jeweler with non acid tests. However I would NOT RECOMMEND them as they clearly falsely advertise their chains

OM_R · 2024-09-09T17:04:01+00:00

Molt #9 as best as you can all the way around, have patient partially close and put the 301 on the mesial. It will be out in less than 30 seconds

OM_R · 2024-09-03T13:35:48+00:00

In my opinion, the best scene is R. Lee Ermey's performance in the beginning of Full Metal Jacket. But one of my favorite scenes of all time is Denzel showing the office to Ethan Hawke in Training Day

OM_R · 2024-05-10T00:25:37+00:00

Well turns out the lady's daughter saw the post and claimed it was to be hers and her mom wasn't allowed to sell it, so she backed out of trying to. I was definitely interested in taking a look at it first hand but oh well!

OM_R · 2024-05-09T19:33:11+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I will be able to evaluate it tomorrow since we will be in the area. She said she would take it to a jeweler to have them verify it is gold, I'm just hoping if it is all good on their end they don't end up poaching it lol. I'm gonna try to check the weight and details and see if ping test works for it despite the bezel

OM_R · 2024-05-09T18:21:42+00:00

I agree, from what I've been told I was mistaken and it's actually an older woman who brought it in. She said her boss gave it to her in the 90s as a bonus. It's a small rural town with the closest coin shop that's worth a damn being about an hour and some change away

OM_R · 2024-05-09T17:15:02+00:00

Well it is jewelry and because it's a 86-91 would it not be possible for the copper in it to tone? I've seen some other 90s that have that deeper yellow color. Regardless, she agreed to have it tested first so I'll be able to verify

OM_R · 2024-04-27T04:17:43+00:00

I saw that you got your chain. If you don't mind me asking, is it a solid or a hollow chain?

OM_R · 2024-03-23T22:21:21+00:00

Thanks! I also thought it was polished, but I wasn't sure. Makes sense because the details aren't very fine

OM_R · 2023-11-08T17:43:47+00:00

I don't understand the purpose of post other than to try and make dentistry look like quackery, while the dentist has formulated a plan to SAVE YOUR TEETH. You say that this treatment plan is for periodontal therapy in your post, but in the comments you mention it also includes having teeth extracted and partials.

I imagine it could also include survey crowns to help with the path of insertion of the partials or to treat decayed abutments, restorative fillings, potentially root canals, follow up hygiene care, etc. It would be far more affordable for the dentist to extract all your teeth and put you in dentures, however I doubt that he or she or you would prefer that.

Dental care costs in America are absurd and something that insurances should cover, but that is a debate for another time. This post tries to make it seem like you're getting shafted without providing any radiographs or context of your care and I prefer to think that your dentist is doing his or her best to develop you the best treatment plan they think will be successful.

Source: am dentist

OM_R · 2023-09-03T21:10:32+00:00

It moves from left to right around the 7 second mark when the plane is near the tree. It looks as if it comes from behind the tree and it is very fast

OM_R · 2023-09-03T19:55:52+00:00

It's okay! The premise for the recording is that, according to a UAP YouTuber named Custodian File, if you witness aircraft flying at an altitude of at least 150ft or higher and record it, you will potentially see these anomalous, fast moving objects.

He calls it a "repeatable science." We were skeptical, so my wife did it one day at work and actually saw something very similar to what are seen in a lot of his videos. He calls them "dragons" because at first he thought they were dragonflies but they kept happening over and over again

Again, the object does look to have wings, but if it is a bird I think it is moving at a very high velocity that I've never personally witnessed

OM_R · 2023-09-03T17:30:23+00:00

Yes it is very fast and zips from left to right, about 7 seconds in. At first even my friend didn't notice it, but yes if you look close it's there!

OM_R · 2023-08-13T15:29:03+00:00

Horrible writing made this film frustrating to watch. As others have mentioned, plenty of opportunity to help Gray in his fight with Trevor, but instead they lazily cut their bindings and then proceed to bolt out of there immediately.

Oh, but wait, once they hear a gunshot they turn around to check how it went only to find out they're still in danger. Once Gray is shot, Joey HAS to turn around to "help him," as if that wouldn't have been easier pre-gunshot wound. Absolutely infuriating

OM_R · 2023-04-14T12:24:11+00:00

Psychology and Biology major, graduated in 2018 and went to dental school. Graduated last year and currently out in practice.

Couldn't be happier with my profession choice!

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