Use the perio chart to enter measurements of periodontal exams.
In the Chart module, click Perio Chart.
In the upper left is a list of all exams for this patient. Click on an exam, and it will show in the perio chart, along with up to six of the most recent exams. This allows for easy comparison. Probing depths will show for all exams, but for other measurements only the most recent data shows. Data from prior exams shows in grey; current exam data shows in darker text. To add an exam, click Add. Double click an exam to edit the date or provider.
Types of rows: Within the perio chart, there are different types of rows:
Missing/Skipped Teeth: When you create the first perio chart for a patient, any teeth marked Missing are automatically marked skipped in the perio chart. They are indicated with a grey background, but you can still record measurements if you wish. Subsequent exams copy the skipped teeth from the most recent perio exam only. If you later extract a tooth, you must manually select the tooth and click SkipTeeth to mark it on the perio chart. Press Ctrl while clicking to select many teeth. Skipped teeth are automatically skipped during auto advance. Skipped teeth are stored with individual perio exams, so each exam can have different teeth skipped.
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.
Number Entry: For all measurements except gingival margins, press the numbers on your keyboard, or use the keypad on the screen.
Ging Marg/Hyperplasia: Gingival margins are implied negative values (recession). For numbers larger than 10, you must use the onscreen keypad. Hyperplasia is represented with '+'. There are two ways to enter a positive (+) hyperplasia measurement:
Plaque, Calculus, Bleeding, and Suppuration: These are entered on the same rows as the probing depths. They show as colored dots above each probing number. There is room for all four dots to show. You can enter as you chart probing depths or separately. If entering at the same time as the probing depths, enter the probing depth first (e.g. 5-bleeding). When you enter the probing depth, you will automatically advance to the next cell, but if the cell is empty, the program knows to enter the item on the previous probing entry. Customize colors for each by clicking the color boxes on the right.
There are two ways to enter:
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. So if you have 19 of the 192 sites marked as bleeding, then the bleeding index is 10%. If any teeth are marked 'skipped', those sites 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.
Graphical Perio Chart
Save to Images
Print the Chart
Windows 7 comes with voice recognition software. You can turn it on at Control Panel, Ease of Access, Speech Recognition. Other software, like Dragon Naturally Speaking or ViaVoice will also work.
In Dragon, it's probably better to switch to numbers mode ("Numbers mode on") to increase recognition of numbers. You can either do bleeding as a separate pass, or you can switch to spell mode ("Spell mode on") so that it will recognize "b" as a bleeding point. Most anything you can type you can also say.
Numbers greater than 9 will not work until we add support for asterisk (*). For instance, if you say "twelve", you would want that to go in as "asterisk 2", because that's what Open Dental will recognize as 12 rather than 1,2. Once we add support for asterisk, you may be able to create a macro.
Open Dental Software 1-503-363-5432