Evaluation of Simodont® haptic 3D virtual reality dental training simulator

Abstract

Backgound: Visual, acuity and sensory motor skills are essential for performing different procedures in Dentistry. The importance of repetitive training and practice of fine manual skills in improving performance and spatial perception of dental students has been proven [34]. The use of a haptic device would allow the user to capture tactile sense with minimal intervention from the instructor [1]. Haptic technology, or Haptics, is tactile feedback technology which takes advantage of a user's sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, and/or motions upon the user. The literal meaning of haptics is “I fasten onto, I touch” [2]. Haptics technology has been used widely in the fields of aviation, telecommunication and medicine [2, 3]. In Dentistry, early studies investigated the use of virtual reality technology in different fields such as Orthodontics [4], Restorative Dentistry [5], Orthognathic Surgery [6], Implantology [7] and Endodontics [23]. In the past decade, attempts were made to develop a dental simulator by Luciano [8]. Wang et al.[9], Kim et al.[10] , Ranta et al. [11] and Yau et al.[12]. Most of these dental simulators are still in the early, or even experimental phase of development [16]. Haptic technology seems to have a bright future in dental education, hence our study aimed at evaluation of Simodont® haptic virtual reality dental training simulator. Materials and methods: Eleven academic staff members from the School of Dentistry and Oral Health (Griffith University) volunteered to participate in this study, to evaluate the fidelity of different aspects of this new Simodont® haptic 3D VR dental trainer (Figure 1) and to assess its value as a new tool in preclinical dental training and early development of Psychomotor skills. The Simodont® is manufactured by Moog Industrial Group, Amsterdam. The Simodont® courseware has been developed by ACTA (Academic Centre for Dentistry in Amsterdam) and is currently being trialled in a variety of curricula. The courseware allows a variety of operative dental procedures to be practiced in a virtual oral and dental environment with force feedback. All academic staff members were asked to complete a preexperimental questionnaire (Table 1). All tasks given to the participants during the evaluation session were identical and included manual dexterity exercises, clinical exercises on a single tooth as well as a simulated full arch experience with teeth present in contact (Figure 2). Participants were then asked to complete a post-experimental questionnaire that contained a set of sixteen questions detailing their experience using the Simodont®. Following completion of the postexperimental questionnaire, participants were invited to comment about the advantages, limitations and missing elements in the Simodont dental simulator through open-ended questions.