diff --git a/src/TiledArray/conversions/sparse_to_dense.h b/src/TiledArray/conversions/sparse_to_dense.h
index 4c8728bc94..7ee6e92049 100644
--- a/src/TiledArray/conversions/sparse_to_dense.h
+++ b/src/TiledArray/conversions/sparse_to_dense.h
@@ -52,13 +52,7 @@ to_dense(DistArray<Tile, ArgPolicy> const& sparse_array) {
       Tile tile(sparse_array.find(ord).get().clone());
       dense_array.set(ord, tile);
     } else {
-      if constexpr (detail::is_tensor_of_tensor_v<Tile>) {
-        // `zero' tiles that satisfy detail::is_tensor_of_tensor_v<Tile>
-        //  will be left uninitialized
-      } else {
-        // see DistArray::set(ordinal, element_type)
-        dense_array.set(ord, 0);
-      }
+      dense_array.set(ord, typename Tile::value_type{});
     }
   }