Penn Dental Medicine Awarded $750K for Haptic Technology Center

Dr. Margrit Maggio, Director of Operative Dentistry and Advanced Simulation, working with a student on one of the simulation units that will outfit the Measey Haptic Technology Center at Penn Dental Medicine.

Philadelphia – Penn Dental Medicine has been awarded a $750,000 grant from The Benjamin & Mary Siddons Measey Foundation of Media, Pa., in support of a state-of-the-art advanced dental simulation laboratory. The new facility, to be named the Measey Haptic Technology Center at Penn Dental Medicine, will feature Simodont simulation units that use haptic technology to mimic the feel of tooth preparation, delivering of a highly realistic virtual reality simulation of dental procedures.

“The Board is proud to be a part of creating this unique educational resource at Penn Dental Medicine,” says Measey Foundation Board Chair, Clyde F. Barker, MD.

Penn Dental Medicine has been a leader in advanced simulation and is the first dental school in North and South America to integrate the Simodont technology into its curriculum. The School acquired 12 Simodont units in the spring of 2014, and starting this academic year, all first-year students were immersed in the technology to build proficiency in handpiece use, depth perception, and fine motor movement. The Measey Haptic Technology Center will enable the School to continue to build its resources in this area.

“This advanced simulation lab is such a vital part of ensuring our students are well prepared and confident as clinicians,” says Dr. Denis Kinane, Penn Dental Medicine’s Morton Amsterdam Dean. “Through this Center, the Measey Foundation will truly have a far-reaching impact on students and patients.”

The new Center, projected to be completed next year, will be situated in the Lower Concourse of the School’s Thomas W. Evans Building and will serve as one of the focal points of the $34 million Evans Building Centennial Renaissance project, a major renovation of the Building set to begin this fall.

The Benjamin & Mary Siddons Measey Foundation is named for the parents of William Maul Measey, an 1898 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.