Ever heard a dentist calling out your teeth numbers and talking about gum measurements? This is important for a process called periodontal charting, which uses perio charts to create visual representations of your gum health. So what is a perio chart?

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What This Article Covers:

• What Is a Perio Chart?
• Measurements
• Importance
• Best Practices
• Next Steps

What Is a Periodontal Chart?

Periodontal charts or perio charts are graphical representations dentists use to record patients’ gum information. Today, dental practices typically use digital perio charts, which come standard with dental software.

Example of a digital perio chart, including measurements for probing depth, gingival margin, bleeding, mobility and more. Source

They provide a visual overview of a patient’s entire dental structure, recorded through the practice of periodontal charting. This helps dentists plan the patient’s treatment ahead.

Dentists use perio charts to record information about tooth mobility, furcation involvement, gingival margin (mm), probing depth (mm) and notes.

Periodontal Charting

Periodontal charting is a dental practice of measuring pockets — space between teeth and the adjoining gum tissue. An instrument called a dental probe, which the dentist inserts between the tooth and the tissue, usually measures it.

Dental probes have measurement stamps that help dentists ascertain the health of your gums. The deeper it penetrates, the weaker your gums are. Each tooth has six measurement areas, and the dental practitioner will take each of them into account.

Dentists also make sure they check for gum bleeding, tissue damage or tooth decay along with the measurements. Healthy gum tissue will measure 1-3 millimeters approximately when probed.

The first periodontal examination can be uncomfortable for patients, especially the ones with bad gums, swollen tissues or signs of gingivitis.

Periodontal diseases require proper testing before diagnosis similar to other health issues such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia and hypertension. Perio chart measurements help in diagnosing specific gum diseases.

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Measurements

Dentists use perio charts and perio charting to significantly improve patient dental outcomes. From taking measurements to gathering information in one place, they play a crucial role in helping you maintain healthy teeth.

There are a lot of measurements on the periodontic scale. For starters, dentists measure gingival margin and probing depth to determine attachment level.

Gingival margin refers to the distance between a specified reference point and the clinical gingival point.

Probing depth refers to the depth of the periodontal pocket — how far the probe reaches down with the gingival margin as the starting reference point.

Here are some of the major probing depth measurements:

• 0-3mm Without Bleeding: Happy days! This implies that your gum tissues and teeth are fine and functioning as expected.
• 1-3mm With Bleeding: This can be the early stage of gingivitis. Ask your dentist to help you make a better dental care plan for home and continue to visit the clinic at regular intervals.
• 3-5mm Without Bleeding: This means there’s potential for gum disease. Take advice from your dentist about cleaning checkups.
• 3-5mm With Bleeding: This usually means early signs of gum disease. Time to put more effort on the in-home oral remedies and visit your dentist for cleaning every year.
• 5-7mm With Bleeding: The dentist will immediately suggest ‌a carefully regimented oral care plan as this could imply bone and tissue damage.
• 7mm+ With Bleeding: Immediately consult your dentist for aggressive treatment and care. Extensive periodontal damage requires strict treatment.

The formula for attachment level is:

Probing depth (mm) – gingival margin (mm) = attachment level (mm)

As an example, if you have a probing depth of 3mm and a gingival margin of 3mm, your attachment level would be 0mm. Which is a good thing! Larger attachment levels actually mean more attachment loss.

Along with determining the attachment level, dentists will check the furcation involvement and mobility of each tooth. Both are graded on a scale of 0-3 with the lower numbers equating to healthier gums and teeth.

Think of it like golf — low score wins!

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Importance

Perio charts are important for both dentists and patients. For starters, it gives patients a well-cataloged and holistic view of their teeth and potential treatments. It helps them stay informed about the care plan and ongoing stages of the treatment.

At the beginning, gum diseases don’t cause severe pain for the patient and thus can go undetected. One of the major symptoms is gum bleeding while brushing and flossing.

The measurements of gum tissues are important for patients. It requires preventive dental care to note the gum tissue gaps and record measurements. To that end, dental clinics strongly recommend patients begin perio charting around the age of 16.

With younger patients facing gum bleeding and swollen gums, perio charting checks can begin early.

Perio charting is an essential service for dentists as well. Yearly periodontal check-ups are necessary to keep gum infections in check. Perio charting and perio charts are also important to provide patients with a better dental care outcome.

Perio charts provide a consolidated graphical presentation of a patient’s gums and measurements. Dentists can examine symptoms and make decisions to provide the best care possible.

If the professional detects any signs of gum damage, they will immediately inform you and suggest possible treatment options.

Best Practices

So far, we’ve seen what perio charts are and the positives of the periodontal charting process. Now, let’s look at some of the prevalent perio charting best practices:

• Employ an Assistant: Working with an assistant can help save valuable time during perio charting. Imagine having to stop after each tooth inspection to record measurements. An assistant can record the measurements and optimize the process.
• Purchase Voice-Activated Systems: In today’s day and age, technology plays a role in optimizing dental processes. Voice-activated recording systems can work as an office assistant as well. These tools can recognize your voice and record measurements as you speak.

Dentists can also use medical software to record gum measurements. Oftentimes, they enter the measurements into a system to generate the perio chart.

Today, dentists resort to not only perio charts but other dental applications such as dental EMR/EHR software, dental medical billing software and dental scheduling software to optimize administrative processes and record patient information and past services quickly.

With newer dental applications and technology, they can also leverage voice recognition features where you’ll spot the dentist reading the numbers aloud. Post-creation, the dentist will consult the perio chart and make decisions based on the gum condition. You may also ask for a copy of the chart to know your condition better.

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Next Steps

Perio charts are an integral part of preventive dental care. Most dental clinics in the U.S. provide the service and advise every dental patient after a certain age to undertake the perio charting process once a year to maintain healthy gums and teeth.

Scheduling regular cleaning visits with your dentist is essential for any patient. Based on the perio chart readings, dentists can suggest various advanced treatments such as root planning, tooth extraction or dental scaling.

Are you in the dental field and looking for dental perio chart software? Head over to our comparison guide to learn about the leading products on the market.

Do you use perio charts? What would you add to our breakdown of periodontal charting and charts? Leave comments below.