The application of simulators in dental medicine students’ training

Abstract

The simulation training of dental students has developed rapidly in recent years. The development of new technologies and virtual reality are an indispensable part of the education of dental students. The introduction of simulators in the education of dental students supports the harmonization and integration of knowledge from the pre-clinical and clinical education of the students. The opportunity to train on simulators in the field of dentistry helps future dentists to put their theoretical knowledge into practice and gain confidence to work with patients. Simulation operators are included in the students’ pre-clinical exercises. In recent years, computer-based simulation and virtual reality-based simulation have become an indispensable part of the pre-clinical training of dental students. Nowadays, there is a wide range of dental simulator models with different features and functions. Some of them are: DentSim, Haptic Technology, Moog Simodont Dental Trainer, HapTEL, the Geneva System, Robotic Patients for Virtual Dental Patient Simulation, Virtual Reality Dental Training System, PerioSim, the VirDenT system, the Forsslund System, DSE^TM Expert Dental Simulation Units—KaVo Dental. In addition to student training, these simulators can also be used to assess learner performance or quality control various teaching methods. The development of new technologies marks successes in the development and improvement of the simulators applied in the training of dental medicine students. The virtual patient application provides many opportunities to recreate clinical situations in virtual reality and will make learning even more rewarding and interesting for dental students.