Development of a Virtual Reality Force Feedback-Enabled Dental Drill Training Simulation

抄録

Effective diagnostic capabilities and good drilling technique are both vital skills for dentists. Typical training approaches include the use of synthetic replica teeth or real teeth extracted from patients. Both present challenges with respect to cost and difficulty of creating representations of specific pathologies. Our research focuses on developing interactive computer-based simulations to help address these issues. We have created a prototype dental drilling training system that demonstrates a number of key technical components, and we have begun the process of validating the educational effectiveness of the simulator by running a pilot user study. The aim of the pilot study is to evaluate our experimental design and to identify potential improvements to the system design and experimental procedure in preparation for a full-sized user study. Method: We have run a user study in which we compared the performance of simulator-trained students to that of students trained using real-world drills. All participants were first or second year undergraduate dental students at Fukuoka Dental College with no prior experience in dental drilling. Results: Over the course of multiple training sessions, practice time decreased sharply for participants in the real-world training group, while it increased for those in the simulation group, indicating increased engagement with the task in the simulation group. Participants in the simulation group also showed a large jump in performance after the first session. This jump can be attributed to participants overcoming their initial unfamiliarity with the virtual reality system. Performance of the two groups on the final test was very close. Conclusion: The results of the experiment are encouraging, in that the simulation group experienced no recognizable negative training effects and performed on par or better than the real-world training group. The pilot study also pointed out a number of areas for improvement in the simulation, such as a more intuitive display system and better replication of the true hardness of teeth within the simulation, which we have since incorporated into the program. We will begin a modified and expanded version of the same study based on the experience gained from the pilot study.