Narrative Templates for Periapical X-rays
There are many reasons to take X-rays. These narratives are designed so you can have multiple options depending on the situation. They are designed to help you come up with your own unique scenarios and options, not to be an exhaustive list of the only reasons to take PAs, which is up to the doctor to determine.
It is suggested that you add these to your clinical note templates as options to make choosing them easier, so you don’t need to type them out each time.
Keep in mind that anytime insurance does not cover a service/treatment, the patient is responsible for the cost of that treatment, including x-rays. There will be some situations where one must tell the patient that their insurance is limiting THEIR benefits to save costs, and that they should complain to their employer’s HR department, hopefully to change companies next year.
- Decay noted visually, radiograph taken to ascertain the depth of decay
- Patient is new and therefore a full set of x-rays is required by standard of care
- Patient has moderate-severe perio, radiograph required to help determine current state of health and evaluate bone level and architecture to determine severity
- Patient reports pain on tooth #X, radiograph required to diagnose source of the pain
- Patient reports pain on tooth #X, radiograph required to determine whether the cause is dental or sinus related
- Patient presents with swelling, PAs required to determine source of the infection
- Mobility noted on tooth/teeth #X, radiograph required to diagnose source of the problem
- Patient came in with acute trauma on tooth #X, radiograph required to diagnose the problem
- Patient presents with root canal #X, standard of care requires radiographic review of the root canal and apex annually.
- Patient is needing a crown, and your company requires PAs for crown claims.
- Tooth #X has decay, radiograph taken to determine depth of decay and to rule out any signs of periapical infection.
