Virtual reality as a novel approach for dental students’ education – a preliminary survey study.

Students’ competency in clinical work is reached via firmly established methods, like training manual dexterity on typodonts and phantom heads. Literature suggests that virtual reality is a novel teaching aid offering advantages over traditional curriculum methods. This preliminary study evaluates students’ feedback on a Simodont® Dental Trainer. Simodont® provides the familiar phantom head environment, but in virtual reality with automated real-time feedback. A questionnaire consisting of single choice and five-point Likert scale questions was distributed among 51 dental students of varied educational experiences. Participants spent one (16%), three (29%), or four (55%) hours training on the Simodont® under the supervision of a qualified teacher. Students agreed that Simodont® assisted positively in their learning, the majority (76%) wanting to continue training on the device. Of participants eligible to answer, 62% disagreed that Simodont® provides a similar experience to treating real teeth. Of all respondents, 95% would prefer to practice on the Simodont® with teachers’ supervision. Although Simodont® is a valuable educational tool, well accepted by students, it is not perceived to adequately replace traditional training on phantom heads. Despite Simodont® providing instant feedback with an automated, independent evaluation of performed tasks, students do not wish to use it without academic teachers’ supervision.