Aspen Dental

Aspen Dental is a national network of branded dental offices that provide general dentistry, dentures, implants, and related services to adult patients. Each office is owned and operated by a licensed dentist, while Aspen Dental Management, Inc. (ADMI) supplies the non-clinical backbone, including marketing, real estate, technology, procurement, and day-to-day business support. That structure allows individual practices to concentrate on clinical care while benefiting from a consistent brand and a scaled operating platform.

The business began in the late 1990s, when founder Bob Fontana set out to reduce practical barriers that kept many people from seeing a dentist regularly. Aspen Dental was formally established around 1998 and grew steadily through new practice openings across multiple states. Over time, the organization refined a repeatable opening model in retail settings, which helped it move from a regional concept to a national presence. A notable milestone came when the network surpassed 1,100 Aspen Dental branded locations nationwide, placing it among the largest organized dental groups in the country as of late 2025.

As of December 2025, Aspen Dental operates more than 1,100 practices across the United States. The footprint is heavily weighted toward suburban trade areas, where patients can pair dental appointments with everyday errands. Locations commonly sit in neighborhood and community centers, power centers, and on pads along major arterials, with a preference for inline and end-cap space that benefits from steady daily traffic. Co-location with value-oriented retailers, grocers, and other health services helps drive regular visit patterns and supports visibility for both the dental office and surrounding tenants.

Over roughly the last five years, Aspen Dental has continued to expand its network while also investing in the types of services it brings into each practice. The brand has emphasized growth in implants, prosthetics, and digital dentistry, including more advanced imaging and digital workflows that can streamline treatment planning and patient experience. At the same time, the company has continued to open new de novo locations in markets where access to dental care has historically been limited, especially in secondary and tertiary trade areas.

For landlords, brokers, and developers, Aspen Dental functions as a scaled healthcare tenant with a small-format retail footprint that fits a wide range of centers. The company maintains a centralized real estate and development team that evaluates sites across suburban markets nationwide and keeps a steady pipeline of new practices under way. Its focus on visibility, access, and convenience aligns with well-located, everyday-needs retail, and its repeat-visit service model can help anchor healthcare and service clusters in neighborhood and community centers, power centers, and select mixed-use projects.