Academic Evaluation of Simodont® Haptic 3D Virtual Reality Dental Training Simulator

摘要

Introduction and Background: Haptic dental simulators are relatively new tools with a promising future in dental education. The majority of these devices are in the early stages of development with no extended evaluations of their usage, benefits and limitations. Aim: This study aimed to assess the perception of academic staff members of the School of Dentistry and Oral Health, (Griffith University, Australia) of the realism of the Simodont® haptic 3DVR dental trainer.Methods: Eleven full-time academic staff members at the School of Dentistry and Oral Health, Griffith University participated in this study through completion of psychomotor exercises available on the Simodont® dental trainer and pre- and post-evaluation questionnaires.Results: Academic staff members were neutral with regards to their expectations about the Simodont® pre-evaluation. Post-evaluation, they noted the educational benefits of the E-lessons loaded on the Simodont® but also raised concerns regarding perceived technical limitations of the hardware and software at this time. These include the tactile nature of simulated hard tissues, the absence of a wide selection of cutting instruments, the difficulty of creating smooth surface preparations and fine retentive features with the tools programmed and the absence of clinically relevant finger rests on the simulator. The majority agreed that automated feedback provided by Simodont® dental trainer could not totally replace traditional preclinical training methods but could be used as a valuable supplementary tool for student self-evaluation.Conclusion: The benefits of the Simodont® dental trainer were noted by academic staff members but further research was deemed necessary to compare the benefits of its Haptic 3D-VR technology against other dental simulators in the market and before its broader implementation in the pre-clinical area.