Which Seattle Dentists Does AI Recommend? A 2026 Study

A snapshot of the names ChatGPT, Google AI Overview and Perplexity gave when we asked 24 everyday questions about Seattle dentists.

Study date: October 16, 2026 · Engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, Perplexity · Location: Seattle, Washington · Questions: 24 · Names that came up: 39 (35 clinics, 4 non-clinic names)

Key findings

• 39 names came up across 24 questions and three AI engines, for 205 mentions in total. None of the questions named a clinic.
• The most-mentioned name was Delta Dental, an insurer, not a clinic, with 29 mentions (14.1%). One of our questions asked for a dentist that takes Delta Dental.
• Among clinics, Seattle Dental Co led with 20 mentions (12.1% of clinic mentions). 4th & Seneca Dental and Dental Care Seattle had 11 each, and Downtown Seattle Dentists had 10.
• Emergency Dental Care USA was named first in an answer most often (4 times), ahead of 4th & Seneca Dental (3).
• Answers were spread thin: the top five clinics took 61 of 165 clinic mentions (37%), and 27 of the 39 names were mentioned 4 times or fewer.
• The engines cited 390 sources. The most-cited domains were zocdoc.com (24), opencare.com (18) and seattlemet.com (18).

This is the data the AI engines returned on October 16, 2026. It is not Beket AI’s opinion, and it is not a ranking of clinical quality. AI answers change over time, so treat this as a snapshot.

Contents

1. Key findings
2. Context: why AI answers matter for dentists
3. Methodology
4. Results: the clinics AI named most
5. How concentrated the answers are
6. Differences by engine
7. Sources the engines cited
8. What this means for local practices
9. Limitations
10. Appendix: questions we asked
11. Request a re-run

Key findings

When people in Seattle ask AI for a dentist, the first name back is not always a dentist.

Across 24 questions and three engines, 39 names came up. The single most-mentioned name was an insurer. Among actual clinics, one practice led clearly, and a long tail of clinics shared the rest.

No single clinic dominated. The answers spread across many practices, often tied to a neighborhood or a specific need.

Context: why AI answers matter for dentists

The figures in this section come from independent public sources, not from our audit. They show why the answers above are worth a look.

• AI tools are now mainstream. In a February–March 2025 survey, Pew Research Center found that 34% of U.S. adults had ever used ChatGPT, about double the share in 2023.
• AI summaries change what people click. Pew Research Center’s 2025 analysis of March 2025 browsing data found that Google users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, versus 15% when it did not. They clicked a link inside the summary in just 1% of visits.
• Most adults see a dentist each year. According to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, 66.7% of U.S. adults had a dental exam or cleaning in the past year (2025 National Health Interview Survey early release).
• Dentistry is a large market. The ADA Health Policy Institute reports that U.S. national dental expenditure was $189 billion in 2024, or 3.6% of total health spending.
• Patients research practices online. The American Dental Association notes that a survey by its Health Policy Institute (December 2022) found 88% of surveyed dentists reported receiving online patient reviews.

Put together: many people now meet a summary before they meet a website. Which practices that summary names matters.

Methodology

We ran a market audit with Beket AI. It completed on October 16, 2026 at 6:25 PM PT. The subject was “dentists in Seattle,” with the service area set to Seattle, Washington, United States.

• Engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Overview and Perplexity.
• Questions: 24 English-language questions a Seattle patient might type, such as “best dentist in Seattle,” “emergency dentist Seattle open now” and “dentist in Ballard Seattle.” None of them named a clinic. The full list is in the appendix.
• Two questions name a payer. One asks for a “dentist that takes Delta Dental in Seattle.” Another asks for a “dentist that accepts Medicaid Apple Health Seattle.” Questions like these invite insurers into the answer. Delta Dental, the most-mentioned name overall, is an insurer, not a clinic.
• What we counted: a mention is a name given in an answer. Share is that name’s mentions divided by all mentions. Times named first counts answers where the name came first.
• Exact names. Raw counts are by the exact name the engines used, so “39 names came up.” We planned to combine obvious variants of one business’s name, such as spelling or punctuation differences. We found none we could combine with confidence, so every ranking below uses exact names. Two other names, with 4 mentions each, use the same words as “Downtown Seattle Dentists” in a different order. They may be the same practice or different ones, so we kept all three separate.
• Clinics vs. non-clinic names. We rank clinics separately. Four names were not clinics: two insurers, one review site and one dentist directory. They are counted in the totals but kept out of the clinic ranking. This grouping is ours, not the engines’.
• Sources: we also logged the URLs the engines cited.

We report what the engines returned. We did not rate, verify or rank the practices ourselves.

Results: the clinics AI named most

Among the 35 clinics, five stood out. Together they collected 61 of the 165 clinic mentions.

Rank	Clinic	Mentions	Share of clinic mentions	Share of all mentions	Times named first
1	Seattle Dental Co	20	12.1%	9.8%	1
2	4th & Seneca Dental	11	6.7%	5.4%	3
3	Dental Care Seattle	11	6.7%	5.4%	0
4	Downtown Seattle Dentists	10	6.1%	4.9%	0
5	Emergency Dental Care USA	9	5.5%	4.4%	4
	30 other clinics	104	63.0%	50.7%	16
	All 35 clinics	165	100%	80.5%	24

The non-clinic names are listed apart:

Name	Type	Mentions	Share of all mentions	Times named first
Delta Dental	Insurer	29	14.1%	2
3 other non-clinic names	Another insurer, a review site, a directory	11	5.4%	0
All non-clinic names		40	19.5%	2

Source: Beket AI audit, October 16, 2026.

Being named first was spread widely. The 26 first-place slots went to 19 different names. The 30 other clinics ranged from 2 to 8 mentions each.

How concentrated the answers are

These answers did not lean on one or two practices.

• The #1 clinic took 12.1% of clinic mentions.
• The top five clinics took 61 of 165 (37%).
• The top ten clinics took 90 (55%).
• The 25 lowest-ranked clinics shared 75 mentions, between 2 and 5 each.
• Non-clinic names took 40 of all 205 mentions (19.5%), most of them Delta Dental.

Source: Beket AI audit, October 16, 2026.

For a patient, that means different questions surface different practices. For a practice, it means there is room to show up, especially for specific needs and neighborhoods.

Differences by engine

We ran every question on all three engines. The audit data available to us does not split mentions or first picks by engine. The citation detail we could pull covers only part of the 390 citations. So we do not compare engines here rather than guess.

Sources the engines cited

The engines cited 390 sources in total. The ten most-cited domains drew 130 of them.

Domain	Type	Times cited
zocdoc.com	Booking directory	24
opencare.com	Dentist directory	18
seattlemet.com	Local media	18
yelp.com	Review site	13
6 practice websites	Individual clinics	57

Source: Beket AI audit, October 16, 2026.

Two patterns stand out. Directories, review sites and local media were cited often. So were clinics’ own websites: six of the ten most-cited domains belong to individual practices.

What this means for local practices

AI engines can only repeat what they can find and trust. A few practical steps help any practice, whether or not it shows up today.

• List the insurance you accept, in plain text. Insurers came up in these answers, and patients ask about coverage. Say which plans you take, including Medicaid if you accept it.
• Name your neighborhood. Eight of the 24 questions asked for a dentist in a specific area. Say where you are and which areas you serve.
• Give each service its own clear page. Emergency care, pediatric care, implants, Invisalign and cosmetic work each had their own question.
• Spell out the basics. Hours (including Saturdays), emergency availability, location and parking. Keep them current.
• Keep your directory and review listings accurate. Booking directories, review sites and local media were among the most-cited sources. Use the same name and address everywhere.
• Check again later. Answers change. A single check is a snapshot, not a verdict.

Limitations

• One day, one run. This reflects answers returned on October 16, 2026. Results can differ from day to day and from user to user.
• Payer questions. One question asked for a dentist that takes Delta Dental, and Delta Dental came out on top overall. Another asked about Medicaid Apple Health. These questions invite insurers into the answers. Delta Dental also appeared in answers to other kinds of questions, but the audit does not show how many of its 29 mentions came from the Delta Dental question.
• Neighborhood questions. Eight questions named a part of the city, such as Ballard, Northgate or downtown. Practices whose names include a neighborhood may be favored for those questions.
• Exact names. Counts are by exact name. Similar names were kept separate when we could not confirm they were the same business, which can split one practice’s mentions.
• Our grouping. Sorting names into clinics and non-clinic names is our own classification.
• Three engines only. Other AI tools were not included, and we could not compare the three engines with each other.
• Mentions, not quality. A mention means the engine gave a name. It says nothing about the quality of care, and it is not a recommendation from Beket AI.

Appendix: questions we asked

All 24 questions, as sent to each engine:

1. best dentists in Seattle for tooth pain
2. How do Seattle families choose a dentist?
3. family dentist recommendations in Seattle
4. top dental clinics in Seattle with modern technology
5. who are the most trusted dental brands in Seattle
6. Seattle dental services for anxiety
7. emergency dentist Seattle open now
8. dentist in Ballard Seattle
9. best dentist in Seattle
10. dentist that takes Delta Dental in Seattle
11. cosmetic dentist Seattle
12. dentist in Queen Anne Seattle
13. affordable family dentist Seattle
14. teeth cleaning near downtown Seattle
15. dentist that accepts Medicaid Apple Health Seattle
16. dentist open Saturday Seattle
17. dentist in Capitol Hill Seattle
18. best pediatric dentist Seattle
19. dentist in Fremont Seattle
20. dental implants Seattle
21. Invisalign dentist Seattle
22. dentist in Northgate Seattle
23. dentist in University District Seattle
24. dentist in West Seattle

Request a re-run

AI answers move. We plan to repeat this study to see whether the list changes.

Want a re-run for your practice? Request one at beket.ai. A free Beket AI audit covers 25 prompts across 3 engines.