Using the Soft Tissue Tab

The Soft Tissue tab in the charting module is used to enter the current periodontal condition of a patient, to view a patient's periodontal condition on any visit date, and to compare the patient's condition on different visit dates. From this tab, you can record and display pocket depths, bleeding, suppuration, plaque, and recession measurements on six sites per tooth, as well as furcation and mobility, attached gingiva, and calculus. Pocket depths and recession measurements can be displayed separately or combined as “Total Tissue Loss.” The measurements can be shown as a bar graph, a line graph or numerically, and the numeric display can be actual measurements or changes from the previous visit date. Click PSR to record a PSR score.

Visit dates on the Soft Tissue tab are independent of visit dates on the Hard Tissue tab. If you make entries on both tabs on the same date, both tabs will show that date as a visit.

Certain procedures charted on the Hard Tissue tab also result in a Soft Tissue visit being created. These include: Crowns, Extractions, Implants, and Bridges.

User-defined buttons can be used as events for the Automation Expert, to record detailed clinical notes, print letters, and so forth. See Using the Automation Expert for more information.

Two digital devices can be used to enter certain conditions on the Soft Tissue tab; the Florida Probe from Computerized Probe, Inc. and the Probe One from American Dental Technologies.

There is very little interaction between the Soft Tissue tab and any other part of PracticeWorks, with the following exceptions:

The patient’s image, captured from elsewhere in the system, does appear on the Soft Tissue tab.
You can use the charting buttons like those on the Hard Tissue tab to chart proposed treatments.
Each visit date from the Soft Tissue tab is represented by a single entry on the Progress Notes tab with the date of the visit and a description.