We asked ChatGPT for a dentist in 15 US cities. Review counts weren't the answer.

When someone asks ChatGPT to recommend a local business, what does it actually look at?

I assumed it just picks whoever has the most Google reviews. So I tested it.

I asked ChatGPT the same question for 15 US cities, as if I had just moved there:

"I just moved to [city]. Can you recommend a good dentist? Give me your top 3."

14 cities answered. I recorded every one of the 42 practices it recommended: the order, the rating and review count it showed, where those numbers were credited, and what ChatGPT said about each one. Then I checked each practice's own website and the directories that list it.

My assumption was wrong, and the way it was wrong matters for anyone who runs a local business, or builds websites for them.

How I ran it

• The question: the same prompt in every city, each in a fresh ChatGPT chat, on 19 October 2026.
• The cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Jacksonville, Columbus, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Seattle.
• What failed: Philadelphia's answer never loaded, even after a reload, so it is left out of every number below.
• What I recorded: the order, the business name, the rating, the review count, which source the card or text credited, and ChatGPT's own description of each practice.
• The limits: one run per city, with the default settings. That is enough to see patterns, not to prove how ChatGPT ranks. More on that at the end.

1. Review count isn't the answer

Jacksonville's top pick showed 8 reviews. Chicago's top pick showed 5,756. Both were ChatGPT's first choice in their city.

Of the 38 picks that showed a review count at all, 8 showed fewer than 100. Seattle's second choice showed 11.

One caution: these counts come from different places. Some were credited to Yelp, some had no source shown, and some were labelled as Google reviews. A practice with 8 Yelp reviews can still have hundreds elsewhere. So the honest reading is not "reviews don't matter". It is that a big review count on one platform was clearly not required to be picked.

2. The same dentist can have two ratings on one screen

In two cities, ChatGPT's written answer and the map pin beside it showed different ratings for the same practice:

• Bauer Dental Group, Columbus: 5.0 in the text, 4.0 on the map.
• Biltmore Commons Dental Care, Phoenix: 4.9 in the text, 4.6 on the map.
• Carroll Family Dental, Columbus: 4.9 in the text, 4.7 on the map.
• Life Smiles Dental Care, Phoenix: 5.0 in the text, 4.9 on the map.

The text called these Google ratings. But the numbers weren't taken from Google directly: they matched, exactly, a third-party dentist directory's city guides that the answer cited. In Phoenix the map card came from Yelp. In Columbus the map rating had no source shown at all.

So a patient could see two different scores for one practice in the same answer, and neither was shown as coming from the business's own Google listing.

3. Yelp shows up far more than Google

Yelp was credited on 19 of the 42 recommendations, on rating cards or on the map. Google was mentioned in the written answer for 5 practices, always as a figure from that directory, and I never saw a Google-branded card.

Most of the rest showed a rating with no source label. ChatGPT's black stars look the same whoever supplied them, so you can't tell where an unlabelled rating came from.

This fits what Yelp itself has said: its August 2026 earnings release states that its content powers local discovery in ChatGPT. For a local business, the Yelp profile is not a side channel any more.

4. The picks described themselves clearly

13 of the 42 were described as gentle, or good with nervous or anxious patients. When I opened their websites, most said exactly that, in plain words:

• Chicago Loop Dentistry describes its anxiety support, down to headphones and aromatherapy.
• Marcos Ortega DDS in San Diego has a dedicated patient comfort page.
• Parker Nickolas Read Dental in Houston prominently lists same-day crowns and sedation.

The same pattern showed up beyond anxiety. The descriptions ChatGPT gave tended to match what the practice's own site said clearly: the named dentists, the neighbourhood, the opening hours, emergency or weekend access, membership plans for patients without insurance.

I can't say these websites caused the picks. But when ChatGPT explained why a practice suited someone who had just moved, the explanation was usually already written on the practice's own site.

5. Some of the sources are paid, and some are out of date

Following the trail behind the answers turned up two things worth knowing:

• Paid placement is in the mix. The dentist directory behind the "Google" figures discloses, on its Los Angeles guide, that featured and sponsored placement can affect the order of its own lists. Elsewhere, a news feature about one practice was labelled as sponsored, and a magazine "recognition" page for another was in an advertising section. None of this shows that ChatGPT used those pages, or that any practice paid to be picked. But it means not every "independent" source is independent.
• Old names and details linger. Two of the practices had rebranded (Bauer Dental Group was Schumacher & Bauer; Martin Dental Group was Balcones Dental). Directories still carried the old names, old staff and older addresses. ChatGPT used both current names and mentioned the old ones, and both practices' own sites spell out the change.

What this doesn't prove

• Why these practices were picked. I only looked at the winners. Without comparing them with similar practices that weren't picked, a common trait might just be common among dentists.
• That the results are stable. This is one run per city on one day. Asking again, or from a different account or location, could change the answers.
• Clinical quality. These are ChatGPT's picks and descriptions, not an independent ranking of dentists.

What I'd do if I ran a local business

• Make your identity consistent everywhere. The same name, address, phone number and named people on your website, your Google listing, Yelp and the directories in your field. If you've rebranded, say so on your site and fix the old listings.
• Say plainly who you're good for. New patients, nervous patients, families, emergencies, weekend hours, payment options. If it's true, write it down in plain words on your own site.
• Treat Yelp and directories as part of your website. Check what they say about you, and correct what's wrong. Don't copy one platform's rating onto another.
• Let AI search tools read your site. Check that your important pages are public and that your site doesn't block the crawlers AI search tools use. Being readable doesn't guarantee a recommendation, but being unreadable rules one out.

There's no single number to chase any more. ChatGPT pulls from Google figures, Yelp, directories, maps and the business's own website, even when those sources disagree, and some of them are paid placements. The job for local businesses, and the agencies that build their websites, is shifting from one score to something broader: making sure every place you appear online tells the same clear, accurate story.

All 42 recommendations

As captured on 19 October 2026, in ChatGPT's order. Ratings and review counts are what the answer showed, with the source it credited. "No source shown" means the card didn't say where the rating came from.

New York

1. Koppelman Dental: 4.9, 84 reviews (Yelp)
2. East 52nd Manhattan Dental Arts: no rating shown
3. 209 NYC Dental: 4.6, 374 reviews (Yelp)

Los Angeles

1. Blue Pearl Dentistry: 4.8, 392 reviews (Yelp)
2. Larchmont Dental Associates: 4.9, 126 reviews (Yelp)
3. Smile L.A. Downtown Modern Dentistry: 4.8, 519 reviews (Yelp)

Chicago

1. Precision Dental Care W Diversey: 4.9, 5,756 reviews (no source shown)
2. Strobel Dentistry: 4.6, 112 reviews (Yelp)
3. Chicago Loop Dentistry: 4.4, 55 reviews (Yelp)

Houston

1. EaDo Family Dental: 4.9, 111 reviews (Yelp)
2. Hickerson Dental Houston: 5.0, 517 reviews (no source shown)
3. Parker Nickolas Read Dental: 4.7, 199 reviews (Yelp)

Phoenix

1. Life Smiles Dental Care: 5.0 in the text (about 1,806 reviews, credited to Google via a directory), 4.9 on the Yelp map
2. Biltmore Commons Dental Care: 4.9 in the text (about 1,539 reviews, credited to Google via a directory), 4.6 on the Yelp map
3. PHX Smile Studio: 5.0, 328 reviews (no source shown)

San Antonio

1. Alamo City Dental: 4.9 on the map, no review count shown
2. Wilderness Oak Family Dentistry at 281: 4.9 on the map, no review count shown
3. Dental Care of San Antonio: 5.0 on the map, no review count shown

San Diego

1. Bay Park Dental Group: 4.9, 639 reviews (no source shown)
2. Marcos Ortega DDS: 4.9, 108 reviews (Yelp)
3. Libby Dental: 4.6, 69 reviews (Yelp)

Dallas

1. Whitley Family Dental: 5.0, 443 reviews (no source shown)
2. Moseley Dental Group: 4.9, 637 reviews (no source shown)
3. OakHeights Family Dental & Orthodontics: 4.9, 829 reviews (no source shown)

Austin

1. ATX Family Dental: 4.8, 221 reviews (Yelp)
2. Martin Dental Group Northwest Hills, formerly Balcones Dental: 4.9, 835 reviews (no source shown)
3. 38th Street Dental: 4.4, 89 reviews (Yelp)

Jacksonville

1. Distinctive Dentistry by Mullens & Nguyen: 5.0, 8 reviews (Yelp)
2. Dental Center of Jacksonville: 4.2, 34 reviews (Yelp)
3. Southern Smiles by Bethany Burton DMD: 4.9, 311 reviews (no source shown)

Columbus

1. Bauer Dental Group: 5.0 in the text (1,136 reviews, credited to Google via a directory), 4.0 on the map
2. Carroll Family Dental: 4.9 in the text (1,797 reviews, credited to Google via a directory), 4.7 on the map
3. Greentree Dental Group: 5.0 in the text and on the map (858 reviews, credited to Google via a directory)

Charlotte

1. Dentistry On Monroe: 5.0, 700 reviews (no source shown)
2. SouthPark Dental & Oral Care: 4.9, 637 reviews (no source shown)
3. Charlotte Dentist, Steven H. Ghim, DMD: 5.0, 643 reviews (no source shown)

Indianapolis

1. Southeast Family Dental: 4.9, 911 reviews (no source shown)
2. Decatur Woods Dental, Dr. John Keller: 5.0, 430 reviews (no source shown)
3. Oller Family Dental: 4.9, 540 reviews (no source shown)

Seattle

1. Seattle Dental Co.: 4.9, 808 reviews (no source shown)
2. Best Dentistry: 5.0, 11 reviews (Yelp)
3. Dental Care Seattle: 4.7, 53 reviews (Yelp)

These are the ratings and counts as ChatGPT displayed them on the day. They are not independently verified, and they are not a ranking of clinical quality.