# Who Google's AI Recommends for Dental Care in Ottawa

Source: https://enginely.ai/reports/ottawa/dental-ai-visibility/

> A citation study of Google AI Overviews across 7 Ottawa sub-markets, measuring which practices AI-generated answers name and cite. 52 practices, 232 citations, 21 queries, captured August 2, 2026.

A citation study of Google AI Overviews across seven Ottawa sub-markets and three patient questions, measuring which dental practices AI-generated answers name and cite — and which are absent.

21 patient-intent queries. 232 citations captured. 52 Ottawa practices named — alongside 15 Greater Toronto Area clinics, verified against our own July 2026 GTA study, that are being cited as the answer to Ottawa patients' questions.

## Headline finding

**Toronto-area dental clinics are being cited as the answer to Ottawa patients' questions — 15 of them, 31 times.** On implant cost, Ottawa practices take barely a third of citations. Google's map pack is built on proximity; the answer above it is not.

| Figure | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Ottawa practices cited | 52 |
| Citations to Ottawa practices | 48% |
| Citations to Toronto-area clinics | 13% |
| Citations to Google listings | 31% |

## What did this study measure?

We ran 21 patient-intent dental queries through Google across seven Ottawa sub-markets — implant cost, Invisalign cost, and which practices accept the Canadian Dental Care Plan — and recorded every source cited by the AI Overview each one returned.

- **19 of 21 queries** returned an AI Overview; the two misses were both Canadian Dental Care Plan questions, in Orléans and Hunt Club
- **232 citations captured**, de-duplicated so a practice cited twice in one answer counts once
- **48% pointed at Ottawa practice websites**, 31% at Google Business Profile listings, 13% at Toronto-area clinics and 8% at third parties
- **52 distinct Ottawa practices** were named across the seven sub-markets
- **Toronto clinics identified by domain match** against our own July 2026 GTA dental study, not inferred from business names
- **Single point in time** — captured August 2, 2026, and generated answers vary between runs

_This measures Google AI Overviews only. It does not measure ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or Copilot, which use different retrieval systems and require separate tracking._

## Findings

### Toronto clinics are winning Ottawa answers

We identified 15 Greater Toronto Area dental practices cited in Ottawa AI Overviews, taking 31 citations — 13% of the total. One Mississauga clinic was cited in six of the seven Ottawa sub-markets we tested. These practices are 400 kilometres away and cannot appear in Ottawa's map pack. They can appear in the answer above it.

### The damage is concentrated on the most valuable question

On implant cost, Ottawa practices take only 37% of citations while Toronto clinics take 18%. Implants are the highest-value procedure in general dentistry, and it is the question where local practices hold the least ground.

### Local coverage questions stay local

On Canadian Dental Care Plan queries, Ottawa practices take 100% of citations and Toronto clinics take none. Content that is genuinely specific to Ottawa is not displaced by out-of-town content — which points directly at the fix.

### A third of citations are not websites at all

31% point to Google Business Profile listings rather than a practice's site. In this vertical the listing is doing as much work as the website, and the two are maintained by different people in most practices.

## Where Ottawa Practices Hold, and Where They Lose

The gap is not uniform. It is concentrated almost entirely on implant cost — the highest-value procedure in general dentistry — and it disappears completely on the one question that is genuinely local.

_Share of AI Overview citations going to an Ottawa practice's own website_

| Topic | Citations | Local share | Most cited | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Implant cost | 99 | 37% | modelverse.ca (6), bayshoredental.ca (5), triadentdental.com (4) | The weakest question and the most valuable one. Toronto-area clinics take 18% of it; the rest goes to Google listings and directories. |
| Invisalign cost | 91 | 55% | riversideorthodontics.ca (6), inovadental.com (6), orleansdentalcentre.ca (4) | Ottawa practices hold a majority, but 14% still goes to Toronto clinics publishing generic procedure pricing. |
| CDCP coverage | 24 | 100% | bluskydental.ca (2), bayshoredental.ca (2), trilliumdental.ca (1) | Every citation went to an Ottawa practice, and none to a Toronto clinic. This is the proof that genuinely local content is not displaced — and two of the seven sub-markets returned no AI Overview here at all. |

_Based on 232 citations across 19 AI Overviews, captured August 2, 2026. The per-question figures sum to 214 rather than 232; both bases are reproduced as the source study published them rather than reconciled here._

## Toronto Practices in Ottawa's Answers

This is the most commercially significant pattern in the data. Each practice below was independently identified in our Greater Toronto Area dental study, then found again in Ottawa AI Overviews. These are not similarly-named businesses; they are the same domains, cited first in Toronto-area answers and then in Ottawa ones.

| Toronto-area practice | Ottawa citations | Ottawa sub-markets | Cited for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| skymarksmilecentre.ca | 6 | 6 | Implant cost |
| renovadental.ca | 4 | 4 | Invisalign cost |
| eglintonoak.ca | 3 | 3 | Invisalign cost |
| hwy7familydentistry.ca | 3 | 3 | Implant cost |
| forestmanordental.com | 3 | 3 | Invisalign cost |
| luka.dental | 2 | 2 | Implant cost |
| clovedental.ca | 2 | 2 | Implant cost |
| smile-by-design.ca | 1 | 1 | Implant cost |
| appletreedental.ca | 1 | 1 | Implant cost |
| shoreline-dentistry.ca | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost |
| underhilldental.com | 1 | 1 | Implant cost |
| marketplacedentistry.ca | 1 | 1 | Implant cost |
| yorkortho.ca | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost |
| downtowndentistry.com | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost |
| mapleridgedentistry.ca | 1 | 1 | Implant cost |

_If your practice is not cited, the answer an Ottawa patient receives is not blank. It names someone else — and increasingly that someone is 400 kilometres away, competing on published content alone. Absence is not neutral._

## Every Ottawa Practice Cited, Ranked

All 52 Ottawa dental practices cited across the 21 queries analysed, ranked by how many generated answers cited the practice's own website. “Sub-mkts” counts how many of the seven Ottawa areas the practice was cited in — the stronger signal, because it indicates content that works beyond one location. The missing-questions column is the more useful half: only 2 practices in the city answer all three.

| # | Practice | Location | Citations | Sub-markets | Questions won | Missing questions |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | inovadental.com | Nepean | 10 | 6 | Implant cost, Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage |
| 2 | modelverse.ca | Kanata | 10 | 6 | Implant cost, Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage |
| 3 | bayshoredental.ca | Ottawa (Central) | 7 | 6 | CDCP coverage, Implant cost | Invisalign cost |
| 4 | riversideorthodontics.ca | Ottawa (Central) | 6 | 6 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 5 | orleansdentalcentre.ca | Ottawa (Central) | 4 | 4 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 6 | thetealumbrella.ca | Kanata | 4 | 4 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 7 | triadentdental.com | Ottawa (Central) | 4 | 4 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 8 | bluskydental.ca | Nepean | 4 | 3 | CDCP coverage, Implant cost | Invisalign cost |
| 9 | carlingwooddental.com | Nepean | 3 | 3 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 10 | barrhavensouthdentistry.com | Barrhaven | 3 | 2 | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost | Implant cost |
| 11 | justdentalcare.ca | Barrhaven | 3 | 1 | CDCP coverage, Implant cost, Invisalign cost | — |
| 12 | nepeandentalcentre.com | Nepean | 3 | 1 | CDCP coverage, Implant cost, Invisalign cost | — |
| 13 | familydentistottawa.com | Ottawa (Central) | 2 | 2 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 14 | kanatahighlandsdental.ca | Kanata | 2 | 2 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 15 | orthoperio.ca | Ottawa (Central) | 2 | 2 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 16 | trilliumdental.ca | Ottawa (Central) | 2 | 2 | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost | Implant cost |
| 17 | wowsmiles.com | Orléans | 2 | 2 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 18 | cityviewfamilydental.ca | Nepean | 2 | 1 | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost | Implant cost |
| 19 | gatewaydentistry.ca | Kanata | 2 | 1 | Implant cost, Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage |
| 20 | huntclubdentalcentre.com | Hunt Club | 2 | 1 | Implant cost, Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage |
| 21 | jeannedarcdental.ca | Orléans | 2 | 1 | Implant cost, Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage |
| 22 | orleansqueenswaydental.com | Orléans | 2 | 1 | Implant cost, Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage |
| 23 | 613dental.ca | Ottawa (Central) | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 24 | allegradent.com | Nepean | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 25 | anatadental.com | Kanata | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 26 | barrhavenbrightsmiledental.com | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 27 | barrhavendentalstudio.ca | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 28 | braceshaven.com | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 29 | centrepointeorthodontics.com | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 30 | connexiondental.com | Vanier | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 31 | davisortho.ca | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 32 | generaldentistottawa.ca | Nepean | 1 | 1 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 33 | hazeldeandental.com | Kanata | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 34 | kanatadentalcare.com | Kanata | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 35 | kanatalakesdental.ca | Kanata | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 36 | kanatasouthdental.com | Kanata | 1 | 1 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 37 | longfieldsdental.com | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 38 | marchdental.ca | Kanata | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 39 | mcarthurdental.ca | Vanier | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 40 | nepeanfamilydental.com | Nepean | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 41 | newsmilelife.ca | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 42 | orleansdentalarts.ca | Ottawa (Central) | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 43 | orleansdentureclinic.com | Vanier | 1 | 1 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 44 | ottawadentist.ca | Vanier | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 45 | redhousedental.ca | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 46 | tartandental.com | Barrhaven | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 47 | terryfoxdental.com | Kanata | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 48 | thdcc.com | Kanata | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |
| 49 | upperhuntclubdentalcentre.com | Hunt Club | 1 | 1 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 50 | villagegreendental.ca | Kanata | 1 | 1 | Implant cost | CDCP coverage, Invisalign cost |
| 51 | villanovadental.com | Kanata | 1 | 1 | CDCP coverage | Implant cost, Invisalign cost |
| 52 | yazdanidental.ca | Kanata | 1 | 1 | Invisalign cost | CDCP coverage, Implant cost |

_Bar length is scaled to the highest citation count in the study. Repeat citations of the same domain within a single answer are counted once. Practices are identified by domain. Captured August 2, 2026._

## Toronto Clinics Are Present in Every Sub-Market

The suburban sub-markets are the most contested. Kanata, Nepean, Orléans and Barrhaven each show six or seven Toronto citations, while Ottawa Central and Hunt Club show one apiece.

| Sub-market | Ottawa citations | Toronto citations | Distinct Ottawa practices |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ottawa (Central) | 12 | 1 | 11 |
| Kanata | 22 | 6 | 20 |
| Nepean | 19 | 6 | 13 |
| Orléans | 14 | 6 | 11 |
| Barrhaven | 17 | 7 | 14 |
| Vanier | 14 | 4 | 12 |
| Hunt Club | 13 | 1 | 10 |

## The Other Sources Google Quoted

18 citations (8%) went to something that is not a dental practice at all. That share is low by the standards of this series — in Ottawa accounting the equivalent figure is 24% — which means dentistry remains a market where the practices themselves hold the answer.

| Source | What it is | Citations |
| --- | --- | --- |
| hellodent.com | Directory | 7 |
| realdentalcosts.com | Cost aggregator | 3 |
| 123dentist.com | DSO network | 2 |
| sunlife.ca | Insurer | 1 |
| opencare.com | Booking directory | 1 |
| dentistsranked.com | Directory | 1 |
| reddit.com | Community forum | 1 |
| ottawapublichealth.ca | Government | 1 |
| facebook.com | Social platform | 1 |

## Method

1. Ran 21 patient-intent queries through Google with city-level location targeting across seven Ottawa sub-markets: Ottawa Central, Kanata, Nepean, Orléans, Barrhaven, Vanier and Hunt Club.
2. Tested each sub-market with the same three questions — implant cost, Invisalign cost and Canadian Dental Care Plan participation, so every area was asked identical questions.
3. Captured the complete search result page for each query, including the AI Overview block, its generated text, and every source it cited.
4. De-duplicated citations per answer, so a practice cited twice within a single AI Overview counts once.
5. Identified the Toronto-area clinics by exact domain match against our own July 2026 Greater Toronto Area dental study, rather than inferring from business names.
6. Classified each cited source by hand as a practice's own website, a Google Business Profile listing, or a third party — directory, insurer, government or forum.
7. Crawled on August 2, 2026 without personalisation, and recorded the crawl window so any figure can be re-checked against the day it was captured.

## Limitations

This is a single-point-in-time snapshot. AI Overviews are generated fresh per query and vary between runs, so exact citation lists will differ if re-run; trends require repeated sampling. Practice identification is by website domain, and where a group operates several sites each is counted separately unless the study states a merge.

Two of the 21 queries — both Canadian Dental Care Plan questions, in Orléans and Hunt Club — returned no AI Overview at all and contribute no citations. The per-question citation figures sum to 214 while the study's total is 232; both are reproduced as published. Only three patient questions were tested, so cleanings, emergency care and cosmetic dentistry may behave differently.

AI Overviews reach the largest audience of any AI answer surface — no login, no app, shown to anyone searching Google — so this is the widest-reach measurement available. It is not the whole picture, and a business performing well here may perform differently elsewhere. Every figure comes from search results captured on the date stated and can be independently checked by running the same queries yourself.

## Where your practice sits

This report shows the market. It does not show your position in it — your citation count, which of the three patient questions you are absent from, and which practices are being named in the answers your patients see instead. That analysis is specific to your domain, and we produce it individually.

The most useful signal in this data is where the Toronto clinics fail. They take 18% of implant-cost citations and none at all on Canadian Dental Care Plan questions. Out-of-town content wins on generic procedure pricing and loses on anything genuinely specific to Ottawa. That is the opening, and it is a content problem rather than a marketing-spend problem.

The work that follows from this report is a fixed-price engagement: [the AI Visibility Accelerator](https://enginely.ai/services/ai-visibility-accelerator/dental/index.html.md). Thirteen weeks, a published price, and three separate measurements against these same queries after publication — because a single check would not survive the variance we document above.

## Questions about this report

### Why does this report only cover Google AI Overviews?

Because an AI Overview is rendered inside a public search results page, it can be retrieved directly, for a specific city, at a specific moment — which is how every figure here was captured. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot do not publish their answers anywhere; those answers exist only when a user prompts the model, so measuring them requires running a fixed prompt set against each model repeatedly over time. That is a different instrument, and we report it separately rather than blending two methods into one number.

### Would you get the same numbers if you ran it again?

Not exactly. AI Overviews are generated fresh per query and vary between runs, so the exact citation list would differ. The structural findings — how concentrated the market is, which source types dominate, which questions are being lost — are stable enough to act on. Any specific practice's citation count is a snapshot, not a ranking position.

### Our practice is not in the table. What does that mean?

It means the practice was not cited in any of the 19 answers Google generated, in any of the seven sub-markets. It does not mean the practice is invisible in Google generally, or that it performs badly in the map pack — those are different surfaces measured differently. It does mean that for these specific cost and coverage questions, the answer a patient received named someone else.

### How do you know the Toronto clinics are really Toronto clinics?

Because we had already recorded them. In July 2026 we ran an identical study across seven Greater Toronto Area sub-markets and logged every cited domain. The practices in the proximity table appear in both datasets — the same domains, cited first in Toronto-area answers and then in Ottawa ones. It is a domain match, not a judgement about business names.

### How were practices identified?

By website domain, exactly as it appeared in the AI Overview source list. Where a group operates several sites, each is counted separately unless this study states otherwise, because the citation was earned by a specific page on a specific domain.

### Can we be removed from the report?

Write to us and we will discuss it. The domains here appear because they were cited in publicly generated search results on the date stated, and the study would be less useful and less checkable without them — but we would rather have the conversation than not.

### Does being cited more often mean more customers?

We did not measure that, and we will not claim it. This study measures citations in generated answers, not clicks, calls or bookings. What it establishes is which practices are present in the answer someone reads before choosing — presence is a precondition for being chosen, not a substitute for it.

## Full report as PDF

The same study, packaged: [download the PDF](https://enginely.ai/reports/enginely-ottawa-dental-ai-visibility-august-2026.pdf). Everything in it is on this page already.

## Legal note

This report is provided for information. Practice names and domains appear because they were cited in publicly generated search results on the date stated; inclusion or absence is not an assessment of clinical quality, of any practice’s standing, or a recommendation of any practice. Nothing here is dental or medical advice, and nothing here describes Canadian Dental Care Plan eligibility — check that with the Government of Canada. Figures describe what Google's systems returned on August 2, 2026 and may change.