AI search for dentists: what owners need to know
Part of our series on AI visibility by trade and city. The reference guide is the AI visibility directory by trade and city.
Finding a dentist used to mean asking a neighbour, checking who takes your insurance and reading a few reviews. Now a growing share of patients, especially people who have just moved or who wake up with a cracked tooth, simply ask an assistant who to see. ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude answers with a short list of specific practices and a reason for each.
For a practice, that list is where new patients are won, because a dental patient who is happy tends to stay for years. This guide explains what AI search means for dentists, what patients ask, how the assistants pick, and what our own scans of six cities found when we asked them.
More patients now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude for a dentist before they ask a colleague, and the way those assistants choose which practices to name decides whether the new patient books with you or down the road. It helps to know why some practices stay invisible to AI and to check where you stand before the next recall cycle.
What patients ask AI when they need a dentist
Dental questions split into two kinds: the urgent one, where someone is in pain and wants a name today, and the considered one, where they compare practices for implants, orthodontics or a family switch. Both end with the assistant naming two or three practices:
- “Best dentist near me for a cracked tooth and severe toothache”
- “Who is the best dentist in the city, and how do the top-rated options compare?”
- “Is there a good dentist near the station?”
- “Most trusted dentists in the area for dental implants”
- “Affordable dentist offering same-day emergency appointments”
What AI actually says about dentists: our scans
In September 2026 we put six patient questions, the kind someone types when they need a dentist and do not have one, to ChatGPT and Gemini for six cities: London, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Seventy-two answers, every practice and every cited website recorded. The full readout, city by city, is on the dentists directory; the short version is below.
No practice owns a city. Across the six markets the assistants named 116 different practices, and the most-named one in a city appeared in 3 or 4 of 12 answers everywhere except New York, where one independent practice was named in half the answers. Five of the six leaders were independent practices, not chains. ChatGPT and Gemini named at least one practice in common in three of the six cities, in line with the other trades we scan: a patient who asks a different assistant is likely to hear different names.
The sources behind the answers were review directories first, then the profession's own registers and booking platforms: Doctify and Top Rated Dentist led, followed by the American Dental Association's find-a-dentist register, Zocdoc and the UK regulator's inspection pages. One dental chain's own website made the top six; no independent practice's did. For an owner the reading is direct: your directory profiles, your register entry and your booking-platform page are what the assistants read, well ahead of your own site.
A Gemini-only study in October 2026 put eight patient questions to Gemini three times each, in these six cities plus Paris, Lyon and Marseille. It named no practice at all in 21% of its English-language answers and 25% of the French ones, and only a quarter of the practices it named survived all three asks of the same question. Zocdoc, Reddit and Opencare were its most-cited sites in English; Doctolib appeared in 61% of the French dentist answers.
More in local AI visibility, city by city. The ChatGPT visibility checker, the Gemini visibility checker and the Claude visibility checker show what each assistant reads.
| City | Practices named | Most-named | Named in |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 20 | An independent Harley Street practice | 3 of 12 answers |
| Dubai | 19 | A multi-branch clinic group | 4 of 12 answers |
| New York | 18 | An independent practice | 6 of 12 answers |
| Los Angeles | 20 | An independent practice | 3 of 12 answers |
| Chicago | 19 | An independent downtown practice | 3 of 12 answers |
| Miami | 20 | An independent practice | 3 of 12 answers |
Common questions
Do patients really ask ChatGPT for a dentist?
We have hundreds of five-star reviews. Isn't that enough?
How do I find out whether AI recommends my practice?
See where you stand
Reading about AI search is useful; knowing your own place in it is what helps. A free Peekl check asks ChatGPT or Gemini, your pick, the questions your customers ask and shows whether it recommends you today, who it names instead, and how often. The full audit runs the same questions on all three assistants, Claude included.
More in this series: AI visibility by trade and city
- AI visibility by trade and city: every scan we run
- Local AI visibility: what it is, and what the numbers say city by city
- AI search for restaurants: what owners need to know
- AI search for cafés: what owners need to know
- AI search for electricians: what owners need to know
- AI search for gyms and fitness studios: what owners need to know
- AI search for law firms: what owners need to know
- AI search for accountants: what owners need to know
- AI search for estate agents: what owners need to know
- AI search for veterinary practices: what owners need to know
- AI search for barbers: what owners need to know
- AI search for cleaning services: what owners need to know
- AI search for opticians: what owners need to know
- AI search for chiropractors: what owners need to know
- AI search for plumbers: what owners need to know
- AI search for hair salons: what owners need to know
- AI search for physiotherapists: what owners need to know
- AI search for personal trainers: what owners need to know
- AI search for aesthetic clinics: what owners need to know