Method and system for recording carious lesions

An interactive system for recording carious lesion information comprising:

• a) a computing device comprising a display, a central processing unit (CPU), operating system software, memory for storing data, a user interface, and input/output capability for reading and writing data;
• b) a patient database comprising patient dental records;
• c) a caries detection dental probe providing decay reading values indicative of tooth condition;
• d) a graphical user interface (GUI) having at least one linked, interactive screen display, said display comprising:
• 1) a first display area comprising an anatomically correct diagram of a set of teeth, wherein said teeth represent a patient's teeth according to the corresponding data stored for the patient in said patient information database, said teeth including indicia to indicate condition of a patient's teeth, wherein said teeth are interactive icons, and each of said teeth can be selected to link to a representative diagram of a selected patient's tooth;
• 2) a second display area, operatively linked to said first display area, comprising a representative diagram of the coronal morphology of a tooth selected from said teeth, wherein said tooth is an interactive tooth icon divided into selectable regions corresponding to the coronal morphology of said selected tooth, wherein said selectable regions are interactive region icons, each of said region icons having a region identifier to uniquely identify said selectable region;
• 3) a third display area having operable diagnostic icons, indicative of diagnostic information, wherein said diagnostic icons allow a user to input and record diagnostic information for each said region of said tooth selected and displayed in said second display area;
• e) computer program code for:
• 1) providing the capability to allow navigating among elements of said linked, interactive screen display;
• 2) providing interactive icons to allow entering and editing of said carious lesion information;
• 3) allowing selection of a patient from said patient database;
• 4) recording the condition of a selected patient's teeth by:
• i) receiving one of said tooth icons selections from said diagram of a set of teeth;
• ii) displaying said tooth icon;
• iii) receiving one of said region icons selections of said selected tooth icon;
• iv) receiving at least one of said diagnostic icons selections to record the condition of a patient's tooth corresponding to said selected tooth region;
• vi) displaying said recorded condition;
• vii) providing the capability to allow verifying and editing of said recorded condition;
• and
• viii) repeating steps i)-vii) until the condition of each region of each of the selected patient's teeth has been received and recorded;
• wherein said computing device executes said computer code and provides said GUI to allow a user to interactively record carious lesion information using said caries detection dental probe.

A method for recording carious lesion information comprising:

• a) providing a computing device comprising a display, a central processing unit (CPU), operating system software, memory for storing data, a user interface, and input/output capability for reading and writing data;
• b) providing a patient database comprising patient dental records;
• c) providing a graphical user interface (GUI) having at least one linked, interactive screen display;
• d) selectively displaying an anatomically correct diagram of a set of teeth, wherein said teeth represent a patient's teeth according to the corresponding data stored for the patient in said patient information database, said teeth including indicia to indicate condition of a patient's teeth, wherein said teeth are interactive icons, and each of said teeth can be selected to link to a representative diagram of a selected patient's tooth;
• e) selectively displaying a representative diagram of the coronal morphology of a tooth selected from said teeth, wherein said tooth is an interactive tooth icon divided into selectable regions corresponding to the coronal morphology of said selected tooth, wherein said selectable regions are interactive region icons, each of said region icons having a region identifier to uniquely identify said selectable region;
• f) selectively displaying operable diagnostic icons, indicative of diagnostic information, wherein said diagnostic icons allow a user to input and record diagnostic information for each said region of said tooth selected and displayed;
• g) receiving a patient selection and retrieving requested patient data from said patient database;
• h) receiving data to record the condition of a selected patient's teeth by:
• 1) receiving one of said tooth icons selections of said diagram of a set of teeth;
• 2) displaying said tooth icon;
• 3) receiving one of said region icon selections of said selected tooth icon;
• 4)receiving at least one of said diagnostic icons selections to record the condition of a patient's tooth corresponding said selected tooth region;
• and
• 5) repeating steps 1)-4) until the condition of each region of each of the selected patient's teeth has been received and recorded.

A method for recording carious lesion information comprising:

• a) providing a computing device comprising a display, a central processing unit (CPU), operating system software, memory for storing data, a user interface, and input/output capability for reading and writing data;
• b) providing a patient database comprising patient dental records;
• c) providing a graphical user interface (GUI) having at least one linked, interactive screen display;
• d) selectively displaying an anatomically correct diagram of a set of teeth, wherein said teeth represent a patient's teeth according to the corresponding data stored for the patient in said patient information database, said teeth including indicia to indicate condition of a patient's teeth, wherein said teeth are interactive icons, and each of said teeth can be selected to link to a representative diagram of a selected patient's tooth;
• e) selectively displaying a representative diagram of the coronal morphology of a tooth selected from said teeth, wherein said tooth is an interactive tooth icon divided into selectable regions corresponding to the coronal morphology of said selected tooth, wherein said selectable regions are interactive region icons, each of said region icons having a region identifier to uniquely identify said selectable region;
• f) selectively displaying operable diagnostic icons, indicative of diagnostic information, wherein said diagnostic icons allow a user to input and record diagnostic information for each said region of said tooth selected and displayed;
• g) selecting a patient from said patient database;
• h) recording the condition of a selected patient's teeth by:
• 1) selecting one of said tooth icons from said diagram of a set of teeth;
• 2) displaying said tooth icon;
• 3) selecting one of said region icons of said selected tooth icon;
• 4) examining the corresponding region of the selected patient's tooth;
• 5) recording the condition of a patient's tooth corresponding to said selected tooth region by selecting the appropriate diagnostic icons displayed;
• and
• 6) repeating steps 1)-5) until the condition of each region of each of the selected patient's teeth has been recorded.

A method for computing and indicating a caries risk level for a dental patient, comprising:

• a) receiving patient screening information;
• b) assigning screening risk factors based on said patient screening information;
• c) applying numerical screening values to said screening risk factors;
• d) recieiving tooth caries diagnosis values;
• e) adding said screening values and said diagnosis values and generating an overall risk value;
• f) applying a threshold to said overall risk value and genratinfg a risk level.

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) comprising a linked screen display, said display comprising:

• a) a first display area comprising an anatomically correct diagram of a set of teeth, wherein said teeth represent a patient's teeth according to the corresponding data stored for the patient in said patient information database, said teeth including indicia to indicate condition of a patient's teeth, wherein said teeth are interactive icons, and each of said teeth can be selected to link to a representative diagram of a selected patient's tooth;
• b) a second display area, operatively linked to said first display area, comprising a representative diagram of the coronal morphology of a tooth selected from said teeth, wherein said tooth is an interactive tooth icon divided into selectable regions corresponding to the coronal morphology of said selected tooth, wherein said selectable regions are interactive region icons, each of said region icons having a region identifier to uniquely identify said selectable region;
• and
• c) a third display area having operable diagnostic icons, indicative of diagnostic information, wherein said diagnostic icons allow a user to input and record diagnostic information for each said region of said tooth selected and displayed in said second display area.

A computer program product recorded on computer readable media for recording carious lesion information comprising:

• a) computer readable media for providing a patient database comprising patient dental records;
• b) computer readable media for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) having at least one linked, interactive screen display, said screen display comprising;
• 1) a first display area comprising an anatomically correct diagram of a set of teeth, wherein said teeth represent a patient's teeth according to the corresponding data stored for the patient in said patient information database, said teeth including indicia to indicate condition of a patient's teeth, wherein said teeth are interactive icons, and each of said teeth can be selected to link to a representative diagram of a selected patient's tooth;
• 2) a second display area, operatively linked to said first display area, comprising a representative diagram of the coronal morphology of a tooth selected from said teeth, wherein said tooth is an interactive tooth icon divided into selectable regions corresponding to the coronal morphology of said selected tooth, wherein said selectable regions are interactive region icons, each of said region icons having a region identifier to uniquely identify said selectable region;
• 3) a third display area having operable diagnostic icons, indicative of diagnostic information, wherein said diagnostic icons allow a user to input and record diagnostic information for each said region of said tooth selected and displayed in said second display area;
• c) computer readable media for providing the capability to allow navigating among elements of said linked, interactive screen display;
• d) computer readable media for providing interactive icons to allow entering and editing of said carious lesion information;
• e) computer readable media for allowing selection of a patient from said patient database;
• f) computer readable media for recording the condition of a selected patient's teeth by:
• i) receiving one of said tooth icons selections from said diagram of a set of teeth;
• ii) displaying said tooth icon;
• iii) receiving one of said region icons selections of said selected tooth icon;
• iv) receiving at least one of said diagnostic icons selections to record the condition of a patient's tooth corresponding to said selected tooth region;
• vi) displaying said recorded condition;
• vii) providing the capability to allow verifying and editing of said recorded condition;
• and
• viii) repeating steps i)-vii) until the condition of each region of each of the selected patient's teeth has been received and recorded;

The computer program product recorded on computer readable media of claim 42, further comprising:

• a) computer readable media for providing a fourth display area of said interactive screen display, associated with said tooth icon displayed in said second display area, comprising a scrollable window to display diagnostic information recorded for the selected patient's tooth, wherein said displayed diagnostic information corresponds to said diagnostic information input using said diagnostic icons in said third display area;
• b) computer readable media for displaying said recorded condition of each selected tooth region of each selected patient's tooth in said fourth display area;
• c) computer readable media for allowing verifying and editing of said recorded conditions;
• and
• d) computer readable media for repeating steps (b) and (c) until the condition of each region of each of the selected patient's teeth has been received and recorded.