Updated: 2/24/2020
The Allcare Dental & Dentures corporation shut down unexpectedly on Monday, Jan. 3. Patients arriving for treatment were greeted by signs on the doors with no prior notification of the shocking news. Employees were notified just as suddenly with a phone call, and now hundreds of employees are beginning the new year with a job search.
Allcare Dental’s Website
The company’s bare-bones alternate website says their doors are permanently closed. They said that they didn’t give patients any notice because both their computer network and phone system were abruptly shut down by the network provider. Their former website was also shut down. They stated this reason for the stunning news:
The reason for the closing is because the business became severely cash constrained and had no way to continue to operate going forward. Allcare was confident in their financial plan to avoid this situation. The plan was to wind down underperforming offices while at the same time raising capital from an equity group. However, the projected closing date for that equity deal was missed and the company did not have the time it needed to get to a closing with the capital group. Bridge financing was attempted to fill the financial gap but there was no success with obtaining that.
Experts predict the company will soon file for bankruptcy – leaving patients with little hope of getting their money back.
Allcare Patients
Allcare Dental had office locations across the country, so this has affected thousands of patients. Patients who prepaid for treatment can contact their local attorney general, but some authorities warn former Allcare patients to not get their hopes up. There is little chance that their money will be returned to them, some authorities say. Many patients have said they were waiting for their dentures to come in and now remain unable to even eat properly.
The Allcare website says the company is working to transfer patient records to nearby dental offices. Now, 2 days after the closure, patient records from offices in only one city have been fully transferred: Boardman, Ohio. The Allcare website says they’re also working on offices in Iowa, North Dakota and New Hampshire, as well as parts of Ohio and New York.
Former Employees
According to several complaint forums, employees were told on Dec. 17 that offices would be closed for the holidays and would reopen Jan. 3. Employees said they had to scramble and notify patients of this sudden change, reassuring them that their appointments would be rescheduled for January.
Former Allcare employees have been apologizing profusely on many online forums and trying to assure patients that they had no foreknowledge of the impending closure. Many said they were notified on New Year’s Eve, just 3 days before everything shut down.
Hopefully more information will soon be revealed about the cause of this decision. Until then, Allcare patients with dental emergencies should visit another local dentist or go to the emergency room.
For more information on an affordable dental insurance alternative to help with these costs, visit 1Dental.com.
I was a patient of Allcare Dental in Erie, PA. I was informed that the records were transferred to a dental office in Erie, PA. Does anyone have information where these records are at present? I would like to get a copy of my records.
We wouldn’t have any dental records. We only have plan information for our members. Have you tried calling the Allcare Dental office in Erie? Can they tell you where those records were transferred?
It would be nice to get my records but I am not sad there closed.I only had two trips there , both trips were bad .The first trip I had lost a small filling and her would not fill the tooth .they said my only choices were to cap it, crown,or implant ,or have it pulled.I could not afford anything other then pull it.I was in medcenteral in Mansfield Ohio with only 6 pints of blood in me.I gave them a 2nd chance to make up for the first trip and in the next trip the guy who checked my tooth to see if the tooth could be fixed or it would have to be pulled to (both teeth had lost fillings) told me he did not know why they did not fill the first one.I told him they could not fix it ,he told me yes they could it was even more fixable then this one , he did not know why they said they could not fix it.She was standing right behind him ,so I told him to ask her. He had a long and loud talk to her she fixed the next tooth because he told her to fix it right.
So sorry to hear about your experience there. Glad to know you were able to find a dentist who could fix that for you!
I purchased Allcares best set of dentures which are still under a 5 year warranty. Now I have 2 teeth falling out. Who will honor this warranty?
Hi Mark, you will want to check with dentists in your area to see if they will honor the warranty. If you have trouble with this, you might trying contacting Allcare or looking for another insurance.
Who owns the patients’ dental records? Allcare or the patient? Can Allcare sell the patient records to the highest bidder like an asset?
I’m not sure, Debbie. You can probably contact the Attorney General about that. According to early reports, it seemed like there was no monetary exchange for transferring records, but since 1Dental.com is not connected with Allcare, I don’t know for sure.
Thank’s for your concern. I filed a report with the ATT. General and have no clue what is going on now. We found out that they left a tooth in and now when he eats anything the bottems come loose or out, even with an ajustment. Why does his sister have to file a complant? Have anyone recived any rembersments?
My sister-in-law payed for her brothers Dentures & she want’s her Money back ASAP! Daniel did get one set of dentures & is intilted to get his second set as payed for. Also he is deserves Pain & suffering reinbersment too! Where & when will he & his sister get there money? JS/vvs
I’m sorry to hear that, Vickie. We’re not connected with Allcare Dental & Dentures, but if you go to the Allcare website, you might find more information about that. Your sister-in-law can also write to her attorney general. In the meantime, if he really needs dental help, he can give us a call at 1-800-372-7615 and we’ll see about getting him a significant discount on his dental work through our discount plan.
i paid 1000 dollars for dentures that i cant wear i have to get new ones i took them in to aspen dental to get them shaved down so i could wear them and they looked at me and said u can just throw them away. i am on disability and cant afford to pay for them again i should be able to get new ones for free.
I’m sorry to hear that, Stefanie. I think they’re encouraging people to write to their attorney general to see if they can get you some help. In the meantime, you might want to check out our affordable dental discount plan that you can use at Aspen Dental and a lot of other dental offices near you.
The website http://www.allcareinfo.com has been posting current information as it comes up, so hopefully it can keep you up to date on the latest Allcare news so you can get your dentures repaired or get a new set without a financial burden.
Good question, Emily. Getting dentures actually involves several appointments with the dentist. Here’s a very general timeline for someone who has already lost all their teeth:
First, the patient goes in so the dentist can take a mold of their mouth.
The dentist sends the mold off to a lab (or has a lab in-office) to create the dentures.
The patient then comes in for a second appointment about 7-14 days later to test the dentures. If any changes need to be made, the dentures will return to the lab for a few days.
This can change with several variables (how many teeth are missing, if they just need replacement dentures, etc). For the people in this situation, it could take weeks, because they will also have to search for a new dentist who has time to fit in a new patient.
What a mess! I especially feel bad for the people waiting on dentures. What’s the quickest amount of time to see a new dentist and get fitted for a new set?
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That’s Crazy! I suspect Allcare to be the Enron of the dental world. We’ll see how this plays out…