New Virtual Reality Lab Enhances Preclinical Instruction

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Beth Adams: 215-573-8224

With the opening of its new DentSim Lab, Penn Dental Medicine has begun a new era in preclinical instruction. Outfitted with 15 DentSim units, the Lab will now enable all incoming Penn Dental Medicine students to develop their preclinical skills using DentSim's virtual reality technology.

Penn Dental Medicine was the world's first academic testing site
of DentSim, and under the direction of Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Judith Buchanan, Principal Investigator, the School remains at the forefront of research on this next-generation learning technology. Currently, 13 other dental schools in the United States are using DentSim at some level, and with 15 units, Penn Dental Medicine's new Lab is the second largest in the country.

Designed to teach the manual skills that dental students must master before they are ready to treat patients, each DentSim unit features a patient mannequin, a set of dental instruments, infrared sensors, and an overhead infrared camera that produces a three-dimensional image of the "patient's" mouth on the computer monitor. The realism of the virtual environment is enhanced with complete patient records, including x-rays, that accompany each case. All work on the units is video recorded, so at any time, students can stop, review what they have done, and have their work evaluated against the ideal preparation.

Students in the School's Program for Advanced Standing Students (PASS) were the first to use the Lab this summer, and this year's freshman class, introduced to DentSim during orientation, will have classes in the Lab right from the start of their first semester.

"With this freshman class, the curriculum has been changed so that students will rotate through the DentSim Lab throughout their first three years," says Dr. Judith Buchanan. "The idea is that students will continually be practicing their skills prior to seeing patients in the clinic."

Previously, students did not begin to build their psychomotor skills and learn preparations until they entered General Restorative Dentistry (GRD) I in February of their freshman year. That instruction will now be spread over the first semester in weekly, two-hour, DentSim classes.

Students will continue to have required rotations in the DentSim Lab throughout their second year and into their third year as well. "Even after students have achieved competency, we will ensure that they maintain it through practice in the DentSim Lab," adds Dr. Buchanan. "In fact, third-year students who are about to enter the clinic, will have to first demonstrate on the DentSim units that they can competently complete a procedure before doing it on a patient."

Dr. Margrit Maggio, Director of the DentSim Lab, stresses that one of the biggest advantages of the DentSim units is that from the very beginning students are learning to perform preparations from the proper perspective. "The moment students sit down, they have to relate to the whole head, not teeth on a stick," she says. "They learn to sit properly, to use finger rests to control the handpiece, to use a mirror with the upper arch - just like they need to do with a real patient. Suction and water are even incorporated into the units."

In addition, Dr. Maggio believes that the consistency and objectivity of evaluation is one of the most exciting parts of the DentSim technology, however, she is quick to note that the DentSim technology does not eliminate the need for an instructor. "We would never want to take that away," she says. "Faculty/student interaction remains crucial, but by removing the evaluation process, this technology allows time for more productive interaction. For example, we can go back to the video of their work and review specific trouble spots together."