Understanding DigitalTCO Templates

This guide provides an overview of how DigitalTCO’s templates work, helping you manage your dental examination documentation with consistency and ease.

The key thing to understand about DigitalTCO is simple but powerful: it updates a baseline template rather than filling in blanks.

The Foundation: A Healthy Patient Baseline

At the core of DigitalTCO is the Healthy Patient Baseline concept. Rather than requiring manual addition or removal of details, DigitalTCO starts with a template representing an ideal, healthy patient—no dental issues or abnormalities. Each section of your template is pre-filled with statements like “no abnormalities detected,” “nil,” “N/A,” or “NAD.”

Why is this important?

By establishing a full, healthy baseline, DigitalTCO eliminates the repetitive task of documenting what’s normal. Instead, your focus shifts solely to the deviations—the unique concerns and treatments specific to each patient. This streamlined approach not only saves time but also ensures that your records are consistent and thorough.

Setting Up Your Template with Template Fixer

DigitalTCO includes the Template Fixer tool under Customise > Template Fixer to simplify setup. This feature aligns templates with the Healthy Patient Baseline model, achieving 98% accuracy from the start. The remaining 2% requires minor adjustments tailored to your practice.

• Automatic Configuration: Template Fixer initializes templates with a healthy patient profile.
• Minor Adjustments: You may need to tweak sections slightly to match your specific documentation needs.

Why not 100%?

Most templates are cluttered with fill-in-the-blanks, long text blocks, and other issues that can lead to inconsistency. While Template Fixer does a great job of cleaning this up, a final manual pass ensures everything aligns with DigitalTCO’s “update, don’t fill” approach.

Essential Guidelines for Template Setup

1. Start with an Ideal Baseline

   Set up your template as if documenting a patient in perfect health. For exams, this means all fields reflect no issues; for treatments, outline the ideal steps without complications.

   Use Clear Headings with Outcomes

   Each section should have a specific heading followed by a clear outcome. For example:

   • Dental History: No Changes
   • Radiographs Taken: None

2. Avoid Fill-in-the-Blanks and Multiple-Choice Fields

   DigitalTCO is not an editor; it’s an updater. Fields like “Low/Medium/High” cannot be updated directly. Instead, use clear, single outcomes (e.g., Caries Risk: Low) so DigitalTCO knows exactly how to update them.

   Keep Each Line Separate

   For clarity, place each heading and outcome on its own line:

   • Soft Tissues: NAD
   • Tongue: NAD

3. Avoid Big Chunks of Text

   If you need to add detailed advice or instructions, use the Spiel Store instead of cluttering your template. This keeps your template clean, and DigitalTCO can pull in specific phrases under clear headings like Perio Explained: N/A.

   (See the "Spiel Store" step in the Onboarding Sidebar—click the arrow on the right side of the screen.)

   Beware of Blank Items

   Avoid ambiguous fields like:

Discussion:  
Nil  

1. This creates confusion for the AI, as it treats “Discussion:” and “Nil” as separate items, potentially leading to errors. Instead, structure it clearly:
   • Discussion: Nil

2. Focus on Updating, Not Adding

   DigitalTCO doesn’t write notes by adding or subtracting information—it updates a healthy baseline. This means each item in your examination should have a clear outcome or status, using the format Heading: Thing (e.g., Caries Risk: Low).

3. Consistent Structure: Heading + Outcome

   Each template line should follow a consistent structure, such as:

MAIN HEADING  
Heading: Outcome  
Heading: Outcome  

1. Consistency in structure allows DigitalTCO to update your notes smoothly, ensuring clarity in the final formatting.

Handling Missing Information

If something in the transcript doesn’t appear in the final note, it’s likely that the template lacks a specific heading for that information.

What to Do:

• Add Specific Headings: Ensure each detail has a designated section in the template.

  For example, if you mention electric pulp test UR6 is negative and it doesn’t appear in the note, you may not have a heading that DigitalTCO can update. Go to Customise > Your Templates, choose the template, and add the required heading and input—in this instance, Special Tests: Nil.

Conclusion

DigitalTCO’s template system simplifies dental documentation by focusing on deviations from a healthy baseline. Starting with a pre-filled template and only updating as necessary, you save time and maintain consistent records.

With tools like the Template Fixer and best practices for setup, DigitalTCO streamlines your documentation process, making it both intuitive and effective.

For further questions or assistance, please refer to additional resources or contact our support team.