What is a digital odontogram and how do you fill it in?
The digital odontogram is the patient's dental chart inside dental practice software: every tooth has its own status, its own work and its own history. You fill it in by clicking a tooth, not on paper, and you generate the treatment plan straight from it.
Short answer
- The digital odontogram is an interactive map of all 32 teeth, with each one's current status.
- You fill it in by clicking a tooth: pick the surface and mark a cavity, filling, crown, implant or extraction.
- The usual notation is FDI (two digits: the quadrant and the tooth position), the same used in medical records.
- Every change stays in the history, with the date and the dentist who made it.
- The teeth marked as needing treatment automatically generate the treatment plan, with procedures and costs.
How to fill it in, step by step
- Open the patient record and go to the odontogram section.
- Click the tooth in question — the chart shows the quadrant and the FDI number.
- Pick the affected surface (occlusal, mesial, distal, buccal, lingual).
- Mark the status: cavity, existing filling, crown, bridge, implant, missing tooth.
- Add the clinical note and, if you have one, the X-ray or photo attached to that tooth.
- Mark the teeth as "to treat" and generate the treatment plan from that selection.
FDI notation in brief
The quadrants in FDI notation for permanent teeth
| Quadrant | First digit | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Upper right | 1 | 11–18 |
| Upper left | 2 | 21–28 |
| Lower left | 3 | 31–38 |
| Lower right | 4 | 41–48 |
Practical example
Example: the patient comes in with pain on the upper right molar. You click tooth 16, mark a cavity on the occlusal surface, attach the X-ray and add "possible root canal". The tooth immediately appears in the to-treat list, and the generated treatment plan contains the filling and, as an alternative, the root canal, each with an estimated price and duration.
Common mistakes
- Recording only the current status and not marking existing work — at the next check-up you cannot see what had already been done.
- Keeping the odontogram on paper and using the software only for scheduling: the per-tooth history is lost.
- Attaching the X-ray to a separate folder instead of the tooth — nobody finds it at the second visit.
How 4dental helps
- An interactive odontogram with FDI notation, per surface, with history on every tooth.
- X-rays and photos attached directly to the tooth, not to a separate folder.
- A treatment plan generated from the marked teeth, with procedures, stages and costs.