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Does ChatGPT Recommend Dentists? How AI Tools Pick a Practice, and How to Check

Short answer

Yes, it can. When someone asks ChatGPT for a dentist in their town, it often searches the web and names a few practices. But the list is not fixed. It can change from one ask to the next, and it changes a lot from city to city. No one can promise that your practice will be named.

How ChatGPT picks dentists to name

ChatGPT does not keep a secret list of "best dentists." For questions like this, it usually searches the web first. OpenAI says ChatGPT search turns your question into one or more search queries and sends them to search partners. It also uses a general location from your internet address. OpenAI's own example: "good restaurants near me" can become "top restaurants San Francisco" (OpenAI Help).

So the practices it names come from what that search finds: your website, directory pages, review sites, and local news. OpenAI also warns that search results and citations "can be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect" (OpenAI Help).

Why the answer changes each time

Researchers at the University of Toronto tested this in October 2026 (Chen and Koudas, arXiv). They sent the same near-me questions to ChatGPT through its programming interface, with web search on. Two identical requests shared only 23% of the businesses named. When the city changed, the lists shared 4%.

They used the API, not the phone app, so your own results may differ. Still, the lesson is simple: one answer is a snapshot, and every city has its own list.

What about Gemini, Perplexity and Grok?

What a dental practice can do

These steps will not force any AI tool to name you. They make your practice easier to find and easier to trust.

  1. Let AI search tools read your site. OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers (OpenAI docs). Perplexity gives the same advice for PerplexityBot (Perplexity docs). Ask your web person to check your robots.txt file.
  2. Keep your Google Business Profile complete. Google says complete, accurate details help you show up in local results. Local results depend on relevance, distance, and popularity, and reviews and links count toward popularity. You cannot pay for a better spot (Google Business Profile Help).
  3. Do the basics of good SEO. Google says normal SEO best practices also apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. You don't need a special AI file or special markup for those (Google Search Central).
  4. Put plain facts on your site. Common sense: write your address, opening hours, services and whether you take new patients in normal text on your pages. A tool cannot repeat what it cannot find.
  5. Be listed where patients look. The Toronto study found that for near-me questions, ChatGPT cites sources that name the city, so local directories, review sites and local institutions matter (Chen and Koudas). In the US, ADA members can update their ADA Find-a-Dentist profile. In Ireland, the Irish Dental Association runs a member directory.
  6. Earn real reviews, and reply with care. In the US, the FTC bans fake reviews and buying reviews (FTC). A US dental practice paid $23,000 to settle after it shared patient details in replies to online reviews (HHS). Thank people, but never confirm that someone is a patient.

How to check by hand

You can do this for free in about 20 minutes:

  1. Open a private browser window, or sign out.
  2. Ask the way a patient would: "Who is a good dentist in [your town]?" Don't type your practice name.
  3. Ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok the same question.
  4. Write down every practice each one names, and the sources it links.
  5. Ask again on another day. One answer is not a trend.

If you serve two towns, test each town on its own.

Check in one step

Doing this by hand takes time. The TippedByAI free check asks ChatGPT, Grok, Perplexity and Gemini a real question a customer would ask, and shows whether each one said your name. Claude is coming soon. It is one snapshot, it costs nothing, and you don't need a card.

Are you tipped by AI? Run the free check.

FAQ

Can I pay ChatGPT to recommend my practice?

We know of no way to pay for a spot in ChatGPT's answers. Google says you can't pay for a better local ranking on Google (Google).

Why did ChatGPT name me yesterday but not today?

Answers change from run to run. In the Toronto study, two identical requests shared only 23% of the names (arXiv).

Do I need a special "AI file" on my site?

Not for Google's AI features, according to Google (Google Search Central).

Does TippedByAI check Claude?

Not yet. Claude is coming soon.

Sources

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