DentalDNA · Sample report
This is what you take home.
A complete DentalDNA report for a fictional first visit at Molar Town. Read it the way a patient would, top to bottom, no dental degree required. About five minutes.
Reviewed by the dentist, line by line
Yours to keep
Sample · fictional patient
Welcome to Molar Town. Overall your mouth is in good shape, and one thing needs care soon: a new cavity on a lower right molar, which we will fill in the next few weeks. Two things we will keep watching: an older silver filling upstairs, and early gum inflammation near your lower front teeth that you can reverse at home. Your 2022 crown and the tiny chip on a front tooth are both fine.
Everything below expands on this paragraph. “From your old records” means the X-rays and chart you brought from your previous office, imported with your permission. At intake you asked for the full explanation, so this is the full one. Drafted from your record, then reviewed and approved line by line by your dentist before it reached you.
Watching
Needs care soon
Treated & stable
Universal numbering, shown as your dentist faces you: upper row 1–16, lower row 32–17. Gold needs care, outlined is being watched, blue is treated and stable. The gums near teeth 23 to 26 are in the findings below.
A cavity that should be filled in the next few weeks
What that means: a cavity on the chewing surface of this molar has passed through the hard outer enamel into the softer layer underneath, called dentin. At this depth it cannot repair itself, and it will keep growing.
The plan: a tooth-colored filling: one visit, numbing, about an hour. Your written estimate came home with this report, and the fee you see is the fee you pay. Caught now, it is routine. Waiting risks the decay reaching the nerve, which turns a filling into a root canal.
An older filling we are keeping an eye on
What that means: the silver filling in this tooth is aging, and its edge no longer seals as tightly as it once did. We checked carefully: no new decay under it.
The plan: nothing right now. We re-examine it at your next visit. If the seal keeps wearing, we replace it with a tooth-colored filling before trouble starts, not after.
Early gum inflammation you can reverse at home
What that means: the small pockets where gum meets tooth measured 4 mm at two spots, just past the healthy 1–3 mm range, and bled when gently checked. That is the earliest, most reversible stage of gum disease.
The plan: this one is yours to win. Floss the lower front teeth every night, the way we showed you in the chair. We re-measure at 90 days. Caught this early, gums usually heal within weeks of consistent care.
A tiny chip, and it is fine
What that means: a very small chip on the biting edge of a front tooth, enamel only. It does not hurt, it is not decaying, and it will not get worse on its own.
The plan: none. If the look ever bothers you, simple bonding can smooth it. Your call. A good report says what is fine as clearly as what is not.
Right bitewing X-ray. The dark spot inside the gold ring is the cavity on tooth 30, already through the enamel into the dentin. That is why it needs a filling, not watching.
Left bitewing X-ray. The bright white shape is the silver filling in tooth 14. Its edge is slightly worn; the tooth beneath is clear. That is what “watching” looks like.
Photo, lower front teeth. Inside the ring, the gum edge is puffy and darker where it should be pale pink and tight. This is exactly where to aim the floss.
Risk is not a grade. It is the short list of things we can change, and what each would cost you if we did not.
- For tooth 30: is there any reason to choose one filling material over another for me?
- For tooth 14: what would you see at the next visit that changes “watch” to “replace”?
Reviewed line by line · Molar Town
Sample notice. Brusha McGums is a fictional patient created to show the DentalDNA report format, including records imported from a fictional previous office. All findings are illustrative. The three images are drawings, not radiographs or photographs. Brand and lot fields are recorded in the real format but redacted here. This document is not medical advice and describes no real person. DentalDNA is being built for Molar Town, opening Spring 2027 in Novi, Michigan; the format shown here is the design target.
Why it’s built this way
Four decisions in that report.
It says what’s fine
Tooth 8 got a whole entry to say “no action needed.” A report that only flags problems trains people to fear it. One that also clears things earns belief when it does flag something.
It remembers from day one
The records a patient brings are folded in, so even a first report can say “new,” “unchanged,” and “caught at the first measurable step.” Every visit after adds a line.
Every line has a source and a reviewer
Each statement traces to the exam, the imaging, or the imported record it came from, and the provenance shows the dentist’s review changed a sentence before release.
It travels with the patient, down to the lot number
The materials record lists what is in the patient’s mouth: material, shade, placement date, manufacturer and lot on file, including what was placed today. If a crown ever needs attention in another city, the answer is already in the patient’s hands.