In 1972, when Dr. Ronald Yaros opened a dental practice on South Peoria Street in Aurora, the surrounding neighborhood looked nothing like it does today. Cherry Creek State Park was still new. Nine Mile Station did not exist. The Heather Gardens community was just beginning to take shape. What Yaros built over the following decades — a practice rooted in genuine relationships, independent ownership, and a clinical philosophy that looked at the whole patient rather than the presenting complaint — eventually became Aspenwood Dental Associates and Colorado Dental Implant Center, one of Aurora's longest-standing independent dental practices. More than fifty years later, the practice is still on Peoria Street, still family-owned, and still operating on the same foundational premise: that dentistry done well is dentistry that lasts.
Today the practice is led by Dr. Lisa Augustine, DDS, who has been with Aspenwood since 1996 and has been named a 5280 Top Dentist every year since 2008 — a recognition that reflects both peer standing and patient outcomes over time. She is joined by Dr. Aaron Sun, check here whose advanced training focuses on implant and cosmetic dentistry, and Dr. Daniel Jay Zeppelin, a 5280 Top Dentist himself, on the team since 2003. The depth of that roster is not incidental. It is what allows a practice of this size to handle the full range of dental need — from a toddler's first exam to a complete implant restoration — without referring patients elsewhere for every procedure that falls outside the routine.
What Half a Century in One Community Actually Teaches You
There is a kind of clinical knowledge that accumulates only through years of treating patients in the same place. Dr. Augustine talks about it in practical terms: Aurora is not a generic Colorado market, and the patients who live here present with conditions and challenges that a practice without local depth might not immediately recognise.
Colorado's altitude is the most discussed variable, and the one that surprises newcomers most consistently. The combination of high elevation and low humidity creates a dry environment that accelerates the kind of oral dryness — xerostomia, in clinical language — that dentists typically associate with medication side effects or systemic conditions. In Aurora, it is simply the baseline. Dry mouth reduces saliva production, and saliva is the mouth's primary defence against decay-causing bacteria. Patients who moved to Colorado from lower-altitude states and noticed their dental health changing without an obvious explanation are often encountering this effect for the first time. At Aspenwood Dental, the team factors altitude-related dryness into every treatment plan and patient conversation — not as a novelty, but as a standard clinical consideration.
Aurora's water supply adds another layer. The mineral content of the local water contributes to accelerated tartar buildup on teeth, a pattern that the practice has observed across thousands of patients over decades. Ultrasonic scaling — a technology that uses high-frequency vibration rather than manual instruments to break down calcified deposits — is part of the standard hygiene protocol at Aspenwood Dental for this reason. It is more effective on the kind of dense mineral buildup that Aurora's water tends to produce, and it is gentler on gum tissue in the process.
Then there is what the practice calls barodontalgia — pressure-related tooth pain that some patients experience during mountain travel, particularly during rapid changes in altitude while driving through passes or flying out of Denver International. It is not widely discussed in general dental literature, but in a community where weekend trips to the mountains are a way of life, it is a presenting complaint that the Aspenwood Dental team encounters regularly. Untreated decay, failing restorations, and small cracks that cause no symptoms at sea level can become acutely painful when air pressure changes rapidly. Identifying and addressing those vulnerabilities before they become altitude-triggered emergencies is a specific form of preventive care that requires both local awareness and thorough clinical examination.
Independence in a Market Full of Corporate Chains
The dental industry has changed substantially since Dr. Yaros opened his practice in 1972. Corporate dental groups — large management companies that acquire practices and standardise operations across dozens or hundreds of locations — now represent a significant share of the market in most metro areas, including the Denver suburbs. Aspenwood Dental's independence from that model is a deliberate choice, and the team is direct about why it matters to the patients they serve.
In a corporate dental environment, clinical decisions are made within a framework that includes production targets, standardised treatment protocols, and financial incentives that are not always aligned with individual patient needs. The dentist the patient sees at one visit may not be the dentist they see at the next. Treatment recommendations can reflect what the system is optimised to deliver, rather than what a thorough assessment of this particular patient's oral health actually calls for. Dr. Augustine describes the alternative plainly: "We're not here for a quick fix or a sales quota. We look at how your smile supports your overall health and your long-term wellbeing. That takes time, and it takes knowing the patient."
That continuity of care is one of the things Aurora patients most frequently mention when they describe what keeps them at Aspenwood Dental for years — and in many cases, for generations. The practice serves families across multiple generations, and the clinical records it holds for long-term patients represent a longitudinal view of oral health that no new provider can replicate from a first appointment. A crack that was monitored for three years before it required a crown, a bite pattern that was adjusted gradually to prevent jaw strain, a patient whose gum health was stabilised through consistent hygiene visits over a decade — these outcomes are only possible in a practice where the relationship between dentist and patient is built to last.
Choosing a Dentist in Aurora: What the Long View Looks Like
For Aurora residents evaluating their dental care options — whether they are new to the area, dissatisfied with a current provider, or returning to regular dental care after a gap — Dr. Augustine offers a perspective shaped by more than twenty-five years of practice in this community.
The first question she encourages patients to ask is whether the practice they are considering is structured to know them over time. A complimentary new patient consultation is one signal — it suggests the practice is investing in the relationship before any treatment begins. The ability to handle complex care in-house, rather than referring out for every procedure beyond a cleaning, is another. Aspenwood Dental's dual identity as both a general dental practice and a dedicated implant centre means that patients who need restorative work — implants, crowns, full-arch reconstruction — are working with the same team throughout, rather than being handed off to an unfamiliar specialist for the most consequential part of their treatment.
Sedation options matter more than many patients initially realise. Dental anxiety is common and genuinely underserved in practices that treat it as an inconvenience rather than a clinical variable. Aspenwood Dental's "Comfort Menu" and sedation dentistry options are designed to make care accessible to patients who have been avoiding the dentist for years because the experience itself has been a barrier. For those patients in particular, the first appointment is often the hardest one — and the practice is built to make it manageable.
Financial access is also part of the picture. The practice accepts most major PPO insurance plans, including Delta Dental, Cigna, and MetLife, as well as Medicaid through Health First Colorado. For patients without insurance, an in-house membership plan provides a structured, predictable cost for preventive care and discounts on additional treatment. In a market where dental costs are a genuine obstacle for many families, that range of options reflects the same commitment to accessibility that has characterised the practice since its founding.
Still Here, Still Independent
Fifty years is a long time for any business to remain in the same location, under independent ownership, serving the same community. For Aspenwood Dental Associates, that longevity is not a coincidence — it is the product of a clinical philosophy that prioritises relationships over transactions, prevention over reactive treatment, and the patient's long-term wellbeing over the efficiency of any single visit.
Aurora has grown considerably since 1972, and the options available to its residents for dental care have multiplied alongside that growth. What has not changed is what a practice with genuine roots in a community can offer that a newer or corporate-owned provider cannot: the kind of accumulated knowledge, sustained relationships, and unhurried clinical attention that turns a dental practice into something closer to a healthcare partner. For families in Aurora's south suburbs — near Nine Mile Station, Heather Gardens, Cherry Creek State Park, or Buckley Space Force Base — that kind of practice is on Peoria Street, and it has been for more than half a century.