August 2026 edition
This brief presents the AI visibility landscape of dentistry across five US metro markets, part of the AI Visibility Report for Local Medical Practices. It provides the data and insights to help dental practices, and the agencies serving them, make informed decisions about AEO strategy.
The study is run on a large scale. 24 dentistry patient questions asked in each of five markets. 3,831 dentistry citations analyzed, checked against the full roster of 11,565 dentistry listings, across four AI answer engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overview. Visibility findings are reported within the areas AI actually recommends from, which contain 1,713 of those listings.
Consumers are increasingly using AI to research local businesses.
The share of consumers using AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to find local business recommendations jumped from 6% to 45% in a single year, making AI the third most-used discovery channel, behind only Google and Facebook (BrightLocal, 2026). AI answer engines are the new battleground for winning new patients.
Majority of Google searches end without a click to any website.
80% of consumers now rely on AI-written results for at least 40% of their searches, and 60% of searches end without a click to any website (Bain & Company, 2025).
AI recommendations are hyperlocal, and in the local areas AI recommends from, only 13% of dental practices were cited by AI once or more. The practices AI cites are cited repeatedly. The three most-cited practices appeared in 29% to 44% of AI answers, depending on the market.
AI engines do not follow Google's rankings. 48.5% of Google's top-ranked dental practices were never cited in AI answers to the same questions, and most of the dental practices AI cites hold no top Google position for the same search.
When a patient searches for a dentist, Google shows its familiar map results and organic listings. An AI Overview appeared on under 2% of general provider discovery searches and on only 8% of condition and treatment searches. On general health questions it appeared 100% of the time, and no providers are recommended there.
AI answers a provider discovery question with a shortlist: about 3 providers on ChatGPT and about 4 on Perplexity. Google AI Overview averages about 3 names wherever it names anyone. Gemini is the outlier, averaging about 7 providers per answer. Crowning a single winner is rarest in dentistry. Only 7% of dentistry conversations elevated one practice above the rest, against 14% across the study.
Condition questions like 'dentist for tooth pain' name practices in 98% of dentistry answers, the searches closest to booking a visit. AI builds those answers from practice websites and from profiles and patient reviews on healthcare directories; general health questions are answered from health information sites and almost never name practices.
A strong rating is the entry ticket to consideration, but past that bar a higher score doesn't buy more citations. Review volume separates the cited from the ignored more sharply than rating does. AI often quotes ratings and patient feedback in its endorsements.
AI has an extremely high bar for criticism. Only 4 citations of dental practices in the study were negative about three practices, and every one traces to review content. AI does not form its own negative opinions about a practice.
When a patient asks AI directly whether a specific dental practice is good for a condition, the engines behave very differently. Across the 45 dentistry direct-ask answers, AI endorsed 47% of the time and said it could not verify the practice in 16%.
Every AI engine has a distinct style and weighs different parts of a practice's online presence differently. ChatGPT is the Cautious Referrer. Gemini is the Enthusiastic Profiler. Perplexity is the Data Aggregator, and Google AI Overview is the Steady Concierge.
Most dental practices are invisible to AI. Investing in AEO means high ROI.
87% of dental practices in the areas AI recommends from never appear in an AI answer, while the three most-cited practices appear in up to 44% of answers. The practices AI cites today are cited again and again, so investing in AEO early provides the best ROI and the advantage compounds over time.
SEO is no longer enough. Google rankings do not transfer to AI recommendations.
48.5% of Google's top-ranked dental practices were never cited in AI answers to the same questions, and most of what AI recommends holds no top Google position. Practices doing AEO alongside SEO win new patients online.
AEO means optimizing your whole online presence, since AI reads everything written about you.
Each engine reads a different mix of a practice's website, directory profiles and reviews, and weighs them differently. Getting recommended means getting all of those surfaces right.
Dentistry, podiatry and chiropractic. All three are highly competitive local markets where patients mostly self-refer, choosing a provider directly and often without a physician referral.
Suburban Chicago, Philadelphia, Tampa and St. Petersburg, Phoenix, and Houston. The five span US regions and represent the mid-sized suburban markets where independent practices compete for the same local patients.
A 24-question panel per specialty, selected by real search volume from candidate pools of patient questions and screened for provider discovery intent, across seven categories.
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overview. Each question was asked three times per engine, per specialty, per market, on the live version of each engine, the way patients use them.
Practice citations were detected by exact name matching against 18,492 local practice listings plus every entity the engines named, with alias handling for name variants and individual providers.
The findings were verified by human audit. Every published figure comes from a locked snapshot of the study data and can be recomputed from it at any time.