Record a perio diagnosis

Who can do this: Doctors, Office Managers and Owners. Hygienists can chart perio but can’t diagnose. They see Staging and grading are a dentist’s act in place of the panel.

Available if your plan includes NixDent Notes and perio charting is on for your office.

Go to Notes → Perio, choose the patient, and open their signed exam. The Diagnosis panel appears under the chart once the charting is signed. A draft exam can’t be diagnosed.

Record the diagnosis

1. Under What the chart cannot tell us, fill in what only you know: Patient age, Bone loss at the worst site (%), Teeth lost to periodontitis, Smoking and Diabetes.
2. Read What the criteria point at. It shows a suggested stage and grade computed from the exam, with the readings behind it. What this exam could not assess lists what a chart alone can’t show.
3. Under Your diagnosis, set Stage, Grade, Extent and Recall (months). The fields start empty. Accept suggested copies the suggestion in, which you can then change.
4. Under Treatment codes, click the codes you want. Nothing is selected for you. A suggested badge marks codes the measurements support, with the reading behind each one.
5. Click Sign diagnosis, check the summary, and click Record.

The diagnosis is saved on the exam in your name.

Caution

The suggestion is worked out from the chart and the details you enter. It can’t see radiographs or anything else outside the exam. The diagnosis you record is yours.