Abstract
Intraoral radiography is basically used in order to diagnose patients' dental diseases. Recently, it was reported that this radiographic skill of dental students of both domestic and overseasis declining. The dental students use an actual radiographic system in their training course, so that the use of x-ray radiation, consumption of films, and film processing time narrow the amount of their training before graduation. We have developed a training system for intraoral radiography based on virtual reality technique. In our training system, virtual reality technique is adopted to show the computed image of intraoral radiograph on a computer display. Both position of an indicator cone, which determines x-ray beam direction and area, and a film are steadied by multi-links arms of the system, each length of the linkages is optimally designed for the training system. This paper describes the training system and the result of functional evaluation by the coauthor dentists in respect to image quality, operationality, and educational effects of the system.
