Charting a perio exam by voice

Call out probing depths as you probe, and Rebrief fills the perio chart. It walks the mouth in your probing order, so you rarely need to name a tooth. You can also type values in.

Where the perio chart lives

The perio rows are part of the chart in the right-hand column of the appointment page. Each arch has rows on its buccal and lingual sides, with the teeth between them. The chart stays up whichever tab you're on.

Each side has three rows.

• PD is the probing depth.
• GM is the gingival margin, measured from the cementoenamel junction.
• CAL is the clinical attachment level. Rebrief works it out from PD and GM when you chart by voice. It doesn't update right away for values you type.

Your probing order

The walk follows a set order. To choose it, open Settings › Charting, pick a Probing order, and press Save changes. It applies to new appointments. The choices are Maxillary first, Facials first and Custom order, which you draw on a small chart. A phone doesn't offer Custom order.

The legend tab on the chart's right edge also shows the order you're using.

Starting the walk

Every new appointment starts with voice charting off, so numbers in conversation don't chart. Start the walk in any of these ways.

• Say where you start, with the site: "Starting probing on the distal buccal of 17". The walk starts there and heads the way your probe is going, so it moves on to 16.
• Say "start charting". The walk starts at the first tooth of your probing order, or where it last stopped.
• Say "probe 18" to start at a tooth.
• Click a tooth, or press Charting on the small card over the chart.

Calling out depths

1. Say the three depths for the side you're on, such as "3 2 3".
2. They chart as soon as you finish speaking.
3. The next tooth in the walk lights up.

You can talk the way you usually do. "And then 3 2 3" and "we have 4 3 4" chart the same way.

You don't have to finish a tooth in one breath. Say "2 4", check the pocket, then say "5". The last site fills in and the walk carries on.

One phrase only fills the highlighted tooth. Extra numbers are dropped, and the card says how many charted.

Moving around the mouth

• "Wrapping around to the lingual" turns the walk to the other side.
• "So now going to the distal buccal of 47" starts the next pass there.
• "reverse direction" turns the walk around. Clicking the highlighted tooth number does the same.
• "skip" passes a tooth.

Fixing as you go

• "undo" takes back the last entry.
• "actually that last one is 4" corrects the last depth.
• "I'm sorry, 3 3 4" redoes a tooth you're partway through. It starts that tooth again from its first site.
• "repeat" charts the last three depths again on the tooth you're on. "repeat 3" does it for three teeth.

One tooth at a time

To chart one tooth without the walk, name the tooth with its site, then the depths. For example, "the mesial buccal of 26, we have 3 3 4". You can also give each depth its site: "on the mesial buccal of 37, 3 millimetres, 2 on the buccal, 3 on the distal buccal".

If you do this after the walk has charted depths, the walk pauses on that tooth. Three more depths in one breath correct it. To go back to the walk, name the next tooth, such as "probe 15", or click it.

A few seconds after a site's depths land, Rebrief transcribes that stretch again, more carefully. If it heard a number differently, it fixes the chart and the card says what changed.

Bleeding, mobility and suppuration

• "bleeding on the mesial" marks bleeding on probing. "delete BOP on the buccal" clears it.
• "suppuration on the distal" marks suppuration.
• "mobility 2" sets mobility, and "no mobility" clears it.

When the chart has room, bleeding and suppuration show as red and yellow dots on the tooth drawings.

Pausing and finishing the walk

• "pause charting" stops the walk where it is. "resume charting" picks it up again.
• "finish perio" ends the walk.

If nobody calls a depth for two minutes, the walk pauses itself, so later conversation doesn't chart. Say "resume charting", name a tooth, or click one to carry on.

What the card tells you

After each charting phrase, a card over the chart says what happened.

• Charted means the values landed.
• Charting paused means numbers won't chart until you resume.
• Not charted means voice charting is off. Turn it on, then say it again.
• Not placed means depths were heard with no tooth to put them on. Name the site first, or start the walk.
• Nothing charted means nothing landed. Say it again.

While voice charting is on, the card also shows the next tooth. Under You can say, it lists phrases to try.

Following the walk on the chart

• The tooth you're on has a solid, highlighted number. While the walk is paused, that number has an outline instead.
• The three teeth just behind you get a small green check beside their number. A double check means both sides are done.
• While you're charting, the next three teeth carry small arrows pointing the way the walk is going.

Typing values in

Click a box in a PD or GM row and type the number. Clicking a box moves the highlight there and turns voice charting on.

The PSR row holds a code for each sextant. Click a sextant to step through its codes.

The perio summary

Four cards above the chart show Mean PD, ≥4mm, ≥6mm and BOP. They hide the first time anything is charted by voice, or when you click a tooth or a box. They come back after "finish perio", or when the walk passes its last tooth.

What End does with the probing

When you press End, Rebrief reads the probing from the whole appointment's transcript again. Every site you called is filled or corrected from that careful reading, including depths the live chart couldn't place. Sites you never called are left alone.

This second read works with FDI tooth numbers. On a chart that uses Universal numbering, the chart keeps what was charted during the appointment.

Taking it out

Use Export at the end of the tab row for a picture or a PDF of the chart. Clinics connect their practice software to Rebrief through the Windows app, the Rebrief app installed on a clinic computer. In the Windows app, Export can also send the chart to your practice software once the appointment has ended.

To chart without the card's sound, switch off Sound effects during voice charting in Settings › Notifications & sounds.