View Perio Data Entry screen. View Video, 18 min. 2 Sec.

For entering numbers greater than 9, first press the F11 key on your keyboard. This will place the number 1 in the cell, however, the cursor will stay in that cell and not move to the next cell. The program is waiting for the entry of another number. After pressing the F11 key, press 0 through 9 to complete the entry. This technique will allow you to enter a value from 10 through 19. Once the second number is pressed, the cursor will proceed to the next cell.

The Meaning of a Blank Cell
Every cell in the Perio Data Entry grid can accept a particular value. Sometimes it is a number, sometimes it is a graphic. However, common to all cells is the “Blank” status. Blank simply means “Not Observed.” For example, the Bleeding category has a positive status represented by a red circle which means bleeding is present. It also has a negative status represented by an empty circle which specifically means no bleeding was present. However, if the cell is blank, it does not indicate that no bleeding was present, and it also does not mean that bleeding was present. It means that this category was not looked at for this tooth and no conclusions as to the state of health should be drawn from it. Blank cells are not considered when the program calculates percentages such as the Bleeding percentage, Plaque, etc.

Pocket Depth (PD)
The Pocket Depth (or probing depth) is the distance (in millimeters) from the gingival margin to the bottom of the pocket. The bottom of the pocket is also known as the epithelial attachment or the Clinical Attachment Level (CAL).  The allowable range from Pocket Depth is 0 to 19 mm.

Gingival Margin (GM)
The Gingival Margin is the top edge or crest of the gingiva. The Gingival Margin measurement is the distance (in millimeters) from the gingival margin to the cementoenamal junction (CEJ).  A Gingival Margin measurement level with the CEJ is 0. Measurements coronal to the CEJ are negative and measurements apical to the CEJ are positive. Allowable values for the Gingival Margin are from -9 to 19.

Clinical Attachment Level (CAL)*
The epithelial attachment defines the bottom of the pocket. The distance the bottom of the pocket is from the CEJ is the measurement (in millimeters) known as Clinical Attachment Level or CAL. It is also known as Clinical Attachment Loss (still CAL). This measurement is not directly measured by the user but is derived by the program from the values for Gingival Margin and Pocket Depth. If you know where the gingival crest (or margin) is with respect to the CEJ and if you know the depth of the pocket, you therefore know the distance the epithelial attachment is from the CEJ. Assuming the epithelial attachment originally was at the CEJ (a measurement of zero millimeters), the number of millimeters it has traveled apically is the clinical attachment loss or level (CAL). When both measurements of Pocket Depth and Gingival Margin are entered for a particular surface for a particular tooth, the CAL will appear automatically.