Effectiveness of Scenario‐Based Dental Hygiene Education Using Virtual Reality: Intraoral Radiography Training

Purpose/Objectives This study aimed to develop a virtual reality simulation (VRS) program that is based on a scenario, training dental hygiene students in the intraoral bisecting angle technique. We tested the effectiveness of VRS in education using performance confidence (PC), clinical competency (CC) and learning satisfaction (LS). Methods This study developed a program based on performance competency and conducted a single‐group pretest–posttest experiment to test its effectiveness. Thirty‐three second‐ and third‐year dental hygiene students were recruited from a single dental hygiene university. We confirmed each item's validity based on the content validity index (CVI) and compared differences in PC, LS and CC before and after training. Results Significant differences were observed in PC, which increased from a score of 78.51 ± 9.0 before training to 89.33 ± 7.03 after the first training and to 94.00 ± 5.75 after the second training ( p < 0.001). CC increased significantly from 69.92 ± 9.46 before training to 87.04 ± 4.43 after training. LS also increased significantly, from a score of 94.15 ± 8.15 before training to 97.45 ± 4.71 after training ( p = 0.002). Conclusions Dental hygiene students' PC, CC and LS improved after training using a VRS for the intraoral bisecting angle technique. VRS training is an effective educational tool that can complement traditional skills training; such training programmes should be developed not only for dental hygiene courses but also for the education and skill enhancement of other dental professionals.