Printable periodontal chart

Probe six sites per tooth: mesial, middle and distal on the buccal side, and the same three on the palatal or lingual side. Write the probing depth and the gingival margin in millimetres, tick the bleeding and plaque boxes for the sites that bleed or carry plaque, and note mobility and furcation per tooth. The grey furcation boxes are for teeth that aren't molars.

Probing depths of 1 to 3 mm are usually healthy; 4 mm and deeper are pockets to watch, and the sites that bleed tell you where inflammation is active. For the summary at the bottom, BOP % is the number of bleeding sites divided by the number of sites you probed.

Have the assistant write while you probe and call out the numbers, tooth by tooth in the same order every time. Chart the upper buccal row first, then palatal, then lower lingual and buccal. Keep the chart in the patient's file and date it, so you can compare the re-evaluation with the initial exam.

FindClinica has this chart built in, with the same rows. Click a site and pick the number; deeper pockets are coloured so they stand out. Each chart is saved as an Initial Exam, Re-evaluation or Maintenance, the app works out the mean probing depth, and you can print it as an A4 PDF for the patient. More about the perio chart.