The Perio Chart is used to record measurements of periodontal exams.

See also: Webinar: Perio Chart

In the Chart Module, click Perio Chart.

Exams: Up to six of the most recent exams can show for easy comparison. Data from prior exams shows in gray. Current exam data shows in dark text. Probing depths show for all exams. For other measurements only the most recent data shows.

• Show current exam only: Only show data for the current exam. This is a user preference and will be remembered the next time the same user opens the perio chart.
• Double click an exam to edit the date or provider.
• Add: Add a new perio exam.
• Copy Previous: Copy the last exam entered (the exam with the most recent date).
• Delete: Delete the selected exam.
• Click the microphone icon to begin recording measurements using voice commands. See Voice Perio Charting.

Auto Advance: Open Dental auto advances starting on the patient's right and going left. It follows this path: 1-16 buccal, 16-1 lingual, 32-17 buccal, 17-32 lingual.

• Right: Temporarily change direction of auto advance to move right.
• Left: Temporarily change direction of auto advance to move left.

Ging Marg+: If the gingival margin is coronal to the CEJ, this can be recorded as having a +1 or +2 by checking this box.

Triplets: The triplet option is handy for entering lots of plaque, calculus, gingival margins, or any other measurements that tend to be the same for the entire tooth. When in triplet mode, the backspace key deletes three at a time and editing an existing entry will overwrite three at a time, so be careful to turn it off when done.

Calc Index %: Click to recalculate the four index percentages. Typically there are 6 sites per tooth and 32 teeth, for a total of 192 possible sites. Example: If you have 19 of the 192 sites marked as bleeding, the bleeding index is 10%. Teeth marked skipped are not considered available and are excluded from the calculation.

Numbers in Red: Flag measurements in the grid with red text when greater than or less than a certain value.

• Red if: Click the up/down arrows to change the value. For Probing, Ging Marg, CAL, Furc, and Mobility, measurements will be flagged red when they are greater than or equal to the value. For MGJ, measurements will be flagged red when less than or equal to the value. The main concern here is that it show sites with little or no attached gingiva.
• # Teeth: For each row, shows the number of teeth that are marked in red. The printout will actually list out all the tooth numbers.
• Count Teeth: Click to refresh tooth counts.

Skip Teeth: Select teeth to mark as skipped when perio charting.

Graphical: Open graphical view of chart.

Save to Images: Save the current perio chart to the Images module, Tooth Charts folder, named by date.

Print: Print the perio chart as it appears on the screen.

Setup

Missing/Skipped Teeth: Set default options for how to handle missing teeth in Chart Module Preferences.

• Perio exams always skip missing teeth: Determines if new missing teeth are automatically skipped in new perio exams.
• Perio exams treat implants as not missing: Determines whether or not teeth with implant procedure codes (paint type of 'implant') are considered missing.

These two preferences work together, so if implants are treated as missing, and missing teeth are always skipped, the implants will be skipped.

Other details:

• The perio exam will never start on a tooth marked missing.
• Missing teeth that will be skipped are indicated with a gray background, but you can still record measurements if you wish.
• Skipped teeth are automatically skipped during auto advance.
• Skipped teeth are stored with individual perio exams, so each exam can have different teeth skipped.
• Teeth marked skip in a previous exam are automatically marked skip in the next exam.
• To manually mark teeth as skip, select the teeth then click SkipTeeth. To unmark a tooth as skip, select the tooth then click SkipTeeth again.
• Teeth with implants are indicated on the perio chart with an i (e.g. 17i).

Troubleshooting

Prior to version 16.1, only the initial perio exam automatically skips teeth marked missing. Subsequent exams only copy the skipped teeth from the most recent perio exam. If extracted later, missing teeth have to be manually selected and marked as SkipTeeth.

Extra Teeth: There can be some complex situations with extra teeth. This can happen with supernumerary teeth and retained deciduous teeth. If there is no way to enter this information into the existing boxes, notes can be made about specific sites in the Progress Notes.