This guide explains what you see in the Perio Chart: the rows, colours and symbols, how to compare two exams, the exam sidebar, the chart settings, and how to set your practice's colours.
Open the new chart
Open the patient and go to Periodontal.
Click the flask button next to New (it says Preview new version when you hover it).
To go back to the classic chart, click the same button (Revert to old version). Zavy remembers your choice on that computer.
You can edit an exam for 24 hours after it is created. After that it is locked: you can view it, but you can't change readings or use voice. You can still edit Risk factors and Summary.
Measurement rows
Each tooth has three measurement rows:
Row | What it shows |
PD | Pocket depth |
GM | Gingival margin. A negative number is recession. |
CAL | Clinical attachment loss. Zavy works this out from PD and GM. |
Pocket depth colours
Pocket depths are coloured by how deep they are:
Pocket depth | Band | Colour |
1–3 mm | Healthy | Green |
4–5 mm | Flag | Red |
6 mm or more | Severe | Yellow with red stripes |
In the table the cell is a pale tint. In the graphical chart the pocket bar is solid.
The CAL row has its own colours: 3–4 mm is pale yellow and 5 mm or more is pale red.
Locked exams: once an exam is locked, only the CAL row stays coloured.
Readings off the scale: if a pocket is deeper than the graphical chart can draw, the bar stops at the edge and shows a +. The table always shows the real number.
These are the default colours. Your practice can change them (see Practice colours below), but the bands are always 1–3, 4–5 and 6+ mm.
Findings rows
Under the measurements are the findings. A site either has the finding or it doesn't. In the table a marked site is filled with colour. In the graphical chart it shows as a dot or ring.
Row | Finding | Shown as |
BLE | Bleeding on probing | Red |
SUP | Suppuration | Yellow |
PLA | Plaque | Purple |
FUR | Furcation | Glickman grade |
BL | Bone loss | Mild, Moderate or Severe (buccal only) |
MOB | Mobility | Miller grade I–III (buccal only) |
Each tooth has three sites per face: distal, middle and mesial. Findings are recorded per site.
The FUR row only has cells where the tooth has a furcation: one cell, or two half cells on a face with two furcation entrances.
Note: suppuration is yellow and plaque is purple. This matches most other dental software.
Graphical view and symbols
Click Graphical (or Both) in the toolbar to see the exam drawn on the teeth. Pocket bars hang from the gum line, to scale.
To see every colour and symbol, click ? in the toolbar and open Chart symbols.
Good to know:
Plaque is an open ring. A filled dot is always bleeding (red) or suppuration (yellow).
Bleeding and suppuration on the same site show as two dots side by side.
Furcation is a triangle with the grade inside. It is open for grade I, part filled for II, and solid for III or IV.
Missing teeth are faded and have no findings. Implants show the fixture. Crowns are tinted gold.
Compare with an earlier exam
Click Compare in the toolbar.
On Against an exam, choose an earlier exam.
You can only compare with an exam dated before the one you have open.
The drawer shows:
bleeding and plaque percentages, then and now
the number of sites at 4 mm+ and 6 mm+
how many sites changed, with a list of each site that changed by more than normal probing variation
any teeth charted in one exam but missing in the other
Trend over time shows bleeding, plaque, suppuration and furcation across every exam.
Close the drawer and the comparison stays on. The toolbar shows a blue tag, for example vs 24 Aug 2026. Click its × to turn it off.
The DIF row
While you are comparing, each tooth has a DIF row under CAL. It shows how much attachment changed at each site, for example +2, −2 or 0.
A positive number means more attachment loss (worse).
Red means worse and green means better, but only when the change is bigger than normal probing variation:
same examiner on both exams: more than ±1 mm
different or unknown examiner: more than ±2 mm
A grey number is within normal variation.
Hover a DIF number to see the earlier reading. The graphical chart also shows the earlier exam's attachment line, faded.
Exam sidebar
The sidebar summarises the whole mouth.
Oral health indices
Four percentages, rounded to whole numbers:
Index | What it means |
Bleeding | Percentage of charted sites that bled on probing |
Suppuration | Percentage of sites with suppuration |
Plaque | Percentage of sites with plaque |
Furcation | Percentage of furcation sites with any furcation involvement |
Below these the sidebar lists teeth by probing depth (1–3, 4–6, 7–9 and 10+ mm), gingival margins, bleeding, bone loss and mobility. Each tooth tag uses the chart colours for that tooth's deepest pocket.
Summary and Risk factors
These two boxes stay at the bottom of the sidebar. Both save when you click out of them.
Risk factors: note anything relevant, for example smoking, diabetes, medications, oral hygiene or family history.
When you create a new exam with New → Copy from previous exam, tick Also copy the risk factors to bring them across. It is off by default.
Summary: a short written description of the chart. Type your own, or click Generate to have AI write a draft from the chart. The draft is saved straight away, and you can edit it. If the box already has text, Zavy asks before replacing it.
What the AI sees: only the chart statistics (tooth numbers, depth bands, grades and the four percentages). It never sees the patient's name, the practitioner, the practice or the exam date. It is told not to diagnose, stage or suggest treatment.
You can add both to documents and letters with the perio.risk_factors and perio.word_picture merge fields (wrap each in double curly braces).
Chart settings
Click Settings in the toolbar.
Setting | What it does |
Movement | The order the cursor moves around the mouth |
Entry order | When you enter pocket depths and margins (see below) |
Skip the 8s | Leaves third molars out of the walk. You can still click them. |
Pause after 1 for 10-19 | Off: each digit enters straight away. For 10–19 use Shift+digit (Shift+3 = 13), Ctrl+digit, or / then the digit. On: after you type 1, Zavy waits briefly so you can type the second digit. |
Voice recognition engine | Zavy Voice Engine. Shown when voice charting is available. |
Entry order options:
All pocket depths around the mouth, then all gingival margins
Pocket depths for a quadrant, then its margins
Pocket depth and margin together on each tooth
Pocket depth then margin on each site (distal, middle, mesial), as in the classic chart
Movement and entry order change the open exam and become your default for new exams. Skip the 8s and Pause after 1 are saved on that computer.
Practice colours
You can set your practice's own colours for the pocket depth bands.
Go to Settings → Clinical. (You'll see this when Perio Chart v2 is turned on for your practice.)
Under Perio Charting → Colours, pick the colours you want.
Check the Preview, then click Save.
Reading | Range | You can set |
Healthy | 1–3 mm | Background and text |
Flag | 4–5 mm | Background and text |
Severe | 6 mm+ | Background and text |
Severe stripe | 6 mm+ | Stripe colour |
CAL moderate | 3–4 mm | Background and text |
CAL severe | 5+ mm | Background and text. Uses the Flag colour until you set it. |
Background colours the table cell and the pocket bar.
Text colours the numbers. Leave it on Auto and Zavy picks dark or white so it stays readable.
Default keeps the built-in colour. Reset all returns every colour to default.
You'll see a warning if a colour may be hard to see when printed, if text is hard to read on its background, or if two depth colours look too similar.
The colours apply to every Perio Chart v2 in your practice, including the sidebar tags. Bleeding, suppuration and plaque colours can't be changed.
Example: reading one exam
Check the four indices in the sidebar.
Scan the chart for coloured pockets. A striped cell is 6 mm or more.
Look straight down the column. Red in BLE and yellow in SUP under a striped pocket means a deep pocket that bled and had suppuration.
Click Compare and pick the last exam. A red +3 in the DIF row means 3 mm more attachment loss at that site since last time.
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