Lab type
Dental and oral pathology
Oral pathology reporting that dentists can request and read with ease.
Who it is for
Oral and maxillofacial pathology services in dental hospitals and teaching centres, and independent oral pathologists who report for general dental practices and oral surgeons. It suits services where many referrers are small practices without a hospital IT system.
Dentists describe sites in tooth numbers and regions, not anatomical text. VipLIMS lets referrers and pathologists record sites in FDI notation, keeps jaw radiology and tooth details with the case, and returns a report written for the person who will see the patient again.
A day with VipLIMS
- A general dental practitioner submits a request through the dental practice portal for a biopsy of a gingival lesion, giving the site in FDI notation. The pot arrives, is received and numbered, for example
OP26-01207, and the TAT clock starts. - A biomedical scientist records the macroscopy. A second specimen in Michel's medium is set aside for immunofluorescence on the same case.
- The oral pathologist reports microscopy and the immunofluorescence pattern, and gives a clear diagnosis with advice for the dentist.
- The report is authorised. The PDF is released to the practice in the portal and the TAT closes.
- Later, an oral surgeon sends a jaw cyst with the associated tooth. Its case type carries a longer TAT target to allow for decalcification, and the report records the radiological picture alongside the histology.
- For an oral cancer resection, the pathologist completes a generic structured form for size, depth of invasion and margins, adapted to the dataset your service uses.
What the pack sets up
Ready on day one, editable afterwards
Case types and numbering
| Case type | Example number | Routine target | Urgent target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oral mucosal biopsy | OP26-00042 | 7 days | 2 days |
| Jaw lesion or cyst | OJ26-00042 | 10 days | 3 days |
| Oral cancer resection | OR26-00042 | 10 days | 5 days |
| Tooth or dental hard tissue | OT26-00042 | 10 days | 5 days |
| Referral or second opinion | OC26-00042 | 10 days | 3 days |
Report sections
- Clinical details required
- Macroscopy required
- Microscopy required
- Synoptic dataset
- Diagnosis required
- Comment
- Coding
Specimen types
- Incisional biopsy, oral mucosa
- Excisional biopsy, oral soft tissue
- Biopsy for direct immunofluorescence
- Cyst lining
- Jaw bone or curettings
- Extracted tooth
- Minor salivary gland biopsy
- Oral cavity resection
- Neck dissection
Starter synoptic templates
- Generic oral carcinoma resection (starter)
- Generic oral epithelial dysplasia (starter)
Written by VipLIMS; not RCPath, ICCR or CAP datasets. Build forms for the datasets your laboratory is licensed to use.
Words your team will see
- Reporter
- Oral pathologist
- Sender
- Dental practice
- Work item
- Case
- Subject
- Patient
- Specimen
- Specimen
- Output
- Report
Good practice built in
- Site recording with FDI tooth and region notation alongside SNOMED CT coding.
- Generic starter forms for oral carcinoma and epithelial dysplasia, which you adapt to the dataset you are licensed to use.
- Turnaround targets per case type and priority, with longer targets for work that needs decalcification.
- Versioned reports and a full audit trail of reporting, authorisation and amendment.
- Supports workflows that laboratories accredited to ISO 15189 need, including traceable sign-off and amendment history.
- Mandatory two-factor sign-in, encryption at rest and a full export of your data at any time.
Questions labs ask
Is there a visual tooth chart?
Not yet. Sites are entered as FDI notation and text. A visual tooth and jaw picker is on our list.
Can dentists attach radiographs?
Image attachments on requests are not available yet. Referrers describe the radiological findings in the request.
Do you include the RCPath or ICCR head and neck datasets?
No. Those datasets need permission for electronic use. VipLIMS ships generic starter forms, and you can build your own from the datasets your service holds.
Can practices without IT support use the portal?
Yes. The portal runs in a web browser. Each user signs in with two-factor authentication, which takes a few minutes to set up on a phone.
Try the dental and oral pathology pack
Create your laboratory, choose this pack, load the sample cases and see how it fits your work. Free, with no card.