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How dentists get recommended by AI: a 40-city look at 240 answers

Short answer: In our test of 40 US cities, ChatGPT and Perplexity named at least one of the same dentists only 9% of the time, the lowest overlap of the four trades we studied. A mention in one assistant is not a mention in the rest, so the $49 report tests all 5 leading AIs: ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Claude and Perplexity.

More patients now ask an AI assistant to find a dentist, and they call one of the few names it gives them. We asked ChatGPT and Perplexity "Who is the best dentist in [city]?" in 40 US cities, three times each. Dentists turned out to be the trade where the two AIs agreed least. Here's what they said, which websites they leaned on, and what that means for a dental practice.

Data from our 960-answer study, dated October 25, 2026: 240 dentist answers collected from ChatGPT and Perplexity in 40 US cities.

▶ Watch: dentists in Dallas, Texas (a 2-minute video from the study).

Names in the video are exactly as the assistants wrote them on October 25, 2026. We are not endorsing those practices, and later answers can differ.

What stood out in the dentist answers

For this trade we used the same 40-city setup: ChatGPT and Perplexity were asked "Who is the best dentist in [city]?" three times in each city, location set to that city, which produced 240 dentist answers.

• The two AIs almost never agreed. For the same city and the same try, ChatGPT and Perplexity named at least one of the same dentists or practices only 9% of the time (10 of 117 where both named someone), the lowest of the four trades in our study. They gave the same top pick 4% of the time.
• ChatGPT named dentists, Perplexity named practices. 70% of ChatGPT's dentist answers named a "Dr.", compared with 18% of Perplexity's. That's part of the reason their lists matched so rarely.
• Each answer names only a handful. ChatGPT named 4.1 dentists or practices per answer on average, and Perplexity named 1.7. In 49% of its dentist answers, Perplexity named just one.
• Dental directories did most of the work. 86% of dentist answers cited a dental directory such as Healthgrades, WebMD, Zocdoc or the ADA's Find-a-Dentist. ChatGPT cited Healthgrades in 77% of its dentist answers. Perplexity cited WebMD's doctor directory in 74%, dentistsranked.com in 63%, Healthgrades in 33% and Zocdoc in 31%.
• Practice websites counted for Perplexity. Perplexity pulled up dental practice websites in 83% of its answers. ChatGPT linked to a practice's own website in 8%.
• State dental boards showed up. Perplexity cited a state licensing or government site, such as a state dental board, in 38% of its dentist answers.
• Repeating the question often shuffled the names. ChatGPT kept the same top pick all three times in 2 of 39 cities, and across those three answers it named 9.7 different dentists or practices on average. Perplexity kept the same top pick all three times in 11 of 39.
• Big dental chains didn't show up. None of the 240 dentist answers named a national dental chain from our short list of brand names (a rough count).

We report the websites cited in the answers, not the dentists those answers named. Being cited is not a recommendation of that site. Site types were grouped from each answer's web addresses, and a practice website was counted when the address belonged to the practice.

The dentist study used two assistants, one question, and one day. Gemini, Grok and Claude can draw on other directories, which is why every paid report covers all five.

What a dental practice can do with these results

Treat this as a set of patterns from the dentist study, not a verdict on your practice. The useful next step depends on your website, your directory profiles, and the other practices nearby.

• Check your directory profiles. In our dentist answers, Healthgrades, WebMD, Zocdoc, dentistsranked.com and the ADA's Find-a-Dentist came up most. Each one is a place AI may read about you.
• Tie each dentist to the practice. ChatGPT often named individual dentists, while Perplexity usually named practices. Your website and profiles should make it easy to see which dentists work at which practice, at which address.
• Say what you offer, one service at a time. Clear sections for cleanings, implants, emergency visits, children's dentistry and the other care you provide give AI more to match than one "general dentistry" page.
• Match the practice name, phone and street address everywhere they appear. Your website, Google Business Profile and each directory should carry the same wording.
• Don't let a security screen hide the practice site. A "checking your browser" page can stop automated visitors. Patients never notice it, yet assistants may never reach your pages.

Start with the two directories AI cited most

Look up each of your dentists on Healthgrades and on WebMD's doctor directory, the two sites the AIs in our study cited most for dentists. Check that the practice name, address and phone number match your website, word for word, and update any profile that's out of date. It takes about half an hour.

Why the next step is not the same for every practice

Two offices on the same street can be missing for unrelated reasons. One site may be unreachable to assistants. Another may have its dentists named by ChatGPT while the practice name never appears in Perplexity. A third may simply be absent from the directories those assistants used. Working the wrong item first spends effort, and a guess will not show whether the answers moved.

That is the job of the AI Recommendation Report ($49). We run 15 real patient questions about dentists in your area through ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Claude and Perplexity, twice each, then show how often you appear next to up to 3 nearby practices, which websites the assistants used, and the Top 5 Fixes for your office. Choose the Report + Fix Kit ($99) and we write the words for you, ready to paste, with step-by-step instructions.

Prefer to see the format first? The sample report, built from an insurance-agency test, is the same layout you would get: who was named, which sites were used, and what to fix first. We cannot promise an assistant will name your practice, because answers change, but the report is how you see where you stand today.

If something about the test is unclear, email Christine at hello@beaioptimized.com.

Guides for the other trades we tested: insurance agents · electricians · pest control · concrete contractors · plumbers · HVAC companies · roofers · flooring companies · painters · tree service · drain cleaners · window replacement · the full 960-answer study.

Questions from dental practices