MASS. - Attorney General Maura Healey is suing Aspen Dental for allegedly cheating thousands of dollars from Massachusetts residents..

Healey alleges the company engaged in deceptive advertising and marketing practices.  They include charging patients for services it advertised as “free” and not living up to “guarantees”. 

Aspen Dental is also accused of allegedly taking advantage of consumers in pain seeking emergency treatment. 

“Aspen Dental took advantage of vulnerable consumers in need of dental care and used misleading advertising to lure them into their offices under false pretenses,” Healey said. “We’re suing this company for violating both state law and its earlier promises not to engage in precisely these illegal practices, and we’re seeking restitution for patients harmed by this misconduct.”

Patients were told their initial appointment would be free, but would then receive a bill during examinations focused on their emergency. The AG’s lawsuit asserts Aspen Dental's actions resulted in sending many of these consumers into debt collection over its bills for those purportedly free services.

The lawsuit says Aspen Dental brought in more than $389 million in net patient revenue from Dec. 2014 to Jan. 2019.

In response to Healey's lawsuit, an Aspen Dental spokesperson said, "Sadly, the Massachusetts Attorney General has brought a lawsuit based on overblown rhetoric that’s inconsistent with its own actions. The Attorney General is relying on old information gathered during the course of an investigation that’s now lasted for more than 5-years. They try to make up in sound and fury what the charges lack in merit. The approach is obviously designed to grab headlines. Not surprisingly, we intend to fight this case."    

Aspen Dental says the company has been cooperating with the Attorney General's office and have responded to the AG's "massive demands" and concerns raised by their office. 

"In fact, a judge observed on the record that we acted in good faith during the AG’s multi-year investigation and declined to order sanctions against us that the AG sought," the statement read.

"The thousands of patients who choose to walk into the Aspen Dental practices each day are the largest rebuke we can think of against the allegations made by the AG," the Aspen Dental spokesperson added. 

The chain has 25 locations across the state, including in Worcester, Leominster and Pittsfield.