Creating templates in Chairscribe: a basic guide

A template lets Chairscribe draft the same note, the same way, every time. This guide covers what a template is, the six constructs it is built from, and how to build your first one.

Quick start (60 seconds)

1. Go to Templates in the sidebar.
2. Click New template.
3. Describe what you want: *“Composite restoration note, FDI notation, tooth number and surfaces, material and shade, anaesthetic, occlusion check, post-op advice.”*
4. Chairscribe drafts the template structure and shows you a sample note.
5. Read the sample. Adjust the structure.
6. Save.

That’s a working template. Everything below is about making it a good one.

What a template actually is

A template is not a form. It is a set of instructions telling Chairscribe what belongs in a note of this type, in what order, and what to do when something is missing.

The distinction matters. A form has empty boxes you fill in. A Chairscribe template already knows that a composite restoration note has a tooth, surfaces, a material, a shade, and an occlusion check, and it knows what to do if the occlusion check wasn’t mentioned. ( ) instructions are what turn a form into a template.

Think of it as a checklist that writes itself. The checklist is the medicolegal value. The writing itself is the time saving.

The six constructs

Every Chairscribe template is built from six things. You don’t need to memorise them (the template builder handles most of this), but understanding them is the difference between a template that mostly works and one you trust.

1. Plain text

Headings, standing text, your practice details. Appears verbatim in every note.

Examination
Diagnosis
Treatment
Post-operative instructions

2. [fill]: what goes here

Square brackets describe the *type* of information, not an example of it. Good fills:

• [tooth number in FDI notation]
• [surfaces restored]
• [shade selected]

Avoid putting examples inside a fill, like [tooth number e.g. 26, 36]. Chairscribe will reach for them.

Be specific. [caries depth and extent, including whether it reaches dentine or approaches the pulp] produces a better note than [caries].

3. [a/b]: force a choice

Where the answer is genuinely binary or bounded, constrain it. This is where confirmation-over-typing does its work. The dentist reads a decision rather than composing one.

[LA administered/no LA]
[rubber dam isolation/cotton roll isolation]
[occlusion checked and adjusted/occlusion checked, no adjustment required]

4. @Name: library sets

A library set is a named list you maintain once and reference everywhere. Change the list, and every template referencing it updates.

@Composites
@LocalAnaesthetics
@ImpressionMaterials

If your practice switches composite systems, you edit one library set rather than eleven templates.

5. { }: optional sections

Wrap a block in braces and it only appears if there is something to put in it. No empty headings, no “N/A” scattered through the note.

{Radiographs
[radiographs taken, type and teeth]
[radiographic findings]}

If no radiographs were taken, the whole block disappears.

6. ( ): instructions

Round brackets speak to Chairscribe, never to the reader. They never appear in the note. The most important instruction is the one that prevents invention:

(Only include if explicitly stated in the recording, context, or clinical note. Otherwise omit entirely. Never infer.)

Instructions also control format and set conditions:

[post-operative instructions] (Write as a bulleted list. Include only advice actually given.)

[anaesthetic] (if LA administered, record agent, volume, and technique. Otherwise omit.)

Putting it together

A simplified composite restoration template, recorded against a real appointment, drafts something like:

Building your first template

• Start from a note you already write. Take a real one, strip the patient details, and use it as the shape.
• Describe it in plain language. The template builder takes a description and drafts the structure; you don’t need to write the syntax yourself to start.
• Read the sample output, not the structure. The sample is what your dentists will see. If the sample is right, the structure is right.
• Test it on a real appointment. Templates look fine in the abstract and reveal their gaps the moment a real patient says something unexpected.

Tips for success

Glossary