Baseline periodontal charting
Baseline periodontal charting
Baseline periodontal charting is carried out when a clinician initially diagnoses or suspects periodontitis and charting is needed to give comprehensive information about the whole mouth and sites where disease is either present or those sites unaffected by disease.
All sites in the mouth should be examined but recording at all sites is not mandated.
Only sites with probing pocket depth of 4 mm or more need to be recorded, along with those where there is bleeding, furcation involvement, suppuration, tooth mobility or recession. However, computer software may make it easier to simply call out examined parameters sequentially to avoid confusion between clinician and assistant.
- Assess probing pocket depth along with bleeding and suppuration on probing, at 6 points around each tooth.
- Record the pocket depth in the case records at those sites where there is a probing pocket depth of 4 mm or greater.
- Record bleeding or suppuration on probing from the base of the pocket.
- Assess the whole mouth for the presence of gingival recession.
- Record gingival recession in mm from the cemento-enamel junction in the case records at, at least, 1 site on the buccal and lingual surface, if it is present.
- Assess the root surfaces of multirooted teeth.
- Record furcation involvement in the case records, if it is present.
- Assess tooth mobility of all teeth.
- Record increased tooth mobility in the case records, if it is present.