Gingival Recession & Mobility Scoring

Pocket depth is only half of what a periodontal chart is for. Whether a tooth is still firm in its socket, how far the gum has receded past the root, and whether disease has reached the fork of a molar's roots are the findings that decide what happens to that tooth next — and VeriPath Dental records all three on the same exam, against the same teeth.

Mobility in grades, not adjectives

Tooth movement is recorded as Grade 0 to Grade III, from firm through to a tooth that moves freely in every direction. A grade means the same thing at the next visit and to the next clinician, so "slightly mobile" stops being a matter of whose handwriting is on the note.

Furcation, for the teeth that have one

Multi-rooted teeth carry furcation involvement from None to Class III, recording how far disease has travelled between the roots. It is the finding that changes a molar's prognosis, and it is recorded against that tooth rather than buried in a paragraph of narrative.

Recession measured where it was found

Recession is recorded in millimetres at each of the six sites, not as a single number for the tooth. One millimetre on the distobuccal and the distolingual is where the gum has gone, and that is the level of detail a hygienist works from at the next visit — the site, the measurement, and the date it was taken.

Judged before the probing

Mobility is assessed while the tooth is undisturbed, and the form puts it above the depth grid so the grade is taken at the right moment in the examination rather than reconstructed later from what the probing found. Furcation is for the teeth that have one — molars, and less often upper premolars — and stays None for the rest, which is what keeps that column worth reading.

Read back beside the measurements

Everything reads back on the exam's tooth records table: each tooth's mobility grade and furcation class sit in the same row as its six pocket depths, the deepest of them, and the sites that bled or carried plaque. The structural picture and the measurements live together, which is what makes the record usable at the chair instead of a transcript to interpret.

Part of a chart that is signed and locked

These measurements belong to the periodontal exam, so they inherit its discipline: correct them while the exam is open, and when it is completed the record is stamped with the date and the clinician's name and locked against further edits. Structural findings are the ones most likely to be questioned years later, which is exactly why they are the ones worth holding properly.

Part of the VeriPath Dental set

• Periodontal Charting — the six-point exam these findings sit on.
• Plaque & Bleeding Indices — the two scores calculated from the same charting.