Dental Firm Opening Five Offices Across Arkansas

Aspen Dental is on its way.

Aspen Dental of Syracuse, New York, recently opened two dental offices in Arkansas and plans to open three more by September.

Earlier this month, Aspen Dental opened locations in Searcy and Jonesboro. The company said it plans to add a location in Rogers by June, Bryant at the beginning of July and Russellville by the end of September.

Aspen, which has nearly 500 practices in 30 states, is focused on delivering dental care to “people who may not ordinarily have access to that type of care,” said Dr. Darryl Ragland, managing clinical director at Aspen’s Searcy location.

The services offered include dentures, preventive care, general dentistry and restoration, according to a news release from Aspen.

Ragland declined to give a range of treatment costs, but he said the practice is covered by nearly all insurance providers and offers in-house financing for qualified patients who don’t have insurance.

“We recognize and realize that even Aspen isn’t going to be for everybody,” Ragland said. “But, that being said, we’ve found Aspen usually is a fit for a lot of people.”

In 2014, Aspen’s practices had more than 3.4 million patient visits and saw nearly 750,000 new patients, according to the company’s news release.

Ragland said the company’s goal is to place locations in areas where patients might not have previously had access to dental care.

“Hopefully, we can fill voids where currently the access to dental care isn’t as accessible as other places in the state,” he said.

Each Aspen location typically will have at least one dentist and a full-time hygienist, but more could be added.

The hours at the locations vary, but at least one day a week the office will stay open to 7 or 8 p.m., Ragland said. And most locations will be open one Saturday a month.

“Our ultimate goal is to engage this population, address their dental needs and have them leave happy,” Ragland said.