A new study found that AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude provide inconsistent and unreliable dentist recommendations, with only 30 practices appearing on all three lists out of 560 total suggestions across the 50 largest U.S. cities, and recommendations changing significantly when the same question is asked multiple times.
- ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude recommended 560 different dental practices as the best dentists, with only 30 appearing on all three lists across the 50 largest U.S. cities.
- The three AI assistants had no consensus in 28 cities, including Dallas, Tucson, and Virginia Beach, where they didn't name even one practice in common.
- AI recommendations included questionable picks, such as Gemini suggesting a Baltimore practice with a 3.1-star Google rating instead of higher-rated alternatives with 4.8+ stars and 100+ reviews.
- Patients are increasingly relying on AI for recommendations like they once did with neighbors, but inconsistent results highlight the need for caution when using chatbots for professional service referrals.
Asking AI to recommend a dentist may not be a great idea. Patients who want to know the best dentists may get different answers depending on the chatbot they ask, according to a new study.
ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude gave varying answers when asked “Who are the best dentists?” in each of the 50 largest U.S. cities. Together, the chatbots responded with 560 different “best” dental practices, with only 30 appearing on all three lists, according to a study by independent U.S. dental directory Dental.me.
“Patients are turning to AI the way they used to turn to a neighbor for a recommendation,” Spencer Whiteclaw, head research analyst at Dental.me, said in a company press release. “But this study shows those answers can change from one assistant to the next, and even from one minute to the next.”
Additionally, the AI chatbots had no consensus on who was the best practice in 28 cities. In Dallas, Tucson, and Virginia Beach, the three AI assistants did not name even one practice in common, according to the study.
Interestingly, when the AI assistants were asked the same question, it affected their responses.
When the identical question was asked a second time about the best practice in the 10 largest cities, 38% of the recommended practices changed. In Chicago, Gemini's second answer replaced all five of its first initial recommendations. In Dallas, ChatGPT and Claude each kept only one, according to Dental.me.
Some of the picks made by chatbots were questionable.
When the assistants were asked for the best dentists in Baltimore, Gemini responded with “5 highly-rated dental practices.” However, one practice had a 3.1-star Google rating based on 24 reviews.
On the contrary, Dental.me's data lists provided recommendations for 49 Baltimore practices with ratings of 4.8 stars or higher and more than 100 reviews, according to the study.
