An application of virtual microscopy in the teaching of an oral and maxillofacial pathology laboratory course

The aim of this study is to share the experience of establishing a virtual microscope and telepathology system for the oral and maxillofacial pathology laboratory course in a dental school.

A dot-slide system has been used to generate digitized microscopic slides, which are placed on an image server that is available online.

Using software that is available as a free download (OlyVIA), students are able to select a teaching slide record, view at magnifications comparable with those of a conventional microscope, and navigate to any area on the matching virtual slide image that is stored on the image server database. Before class, the students can review the findings of the virtual teaching slides at any time or any place via broadband internet by using the instructions available on DVD. During class, students report and discuss the histological findings of the virtual teaching slides with tutors who evaluate, test, and make constructive comments on the presentations in a Web-based computer classroom. After class, students can revise the histological findings of the microscopic virtual slides available on the server.

Virtual microscopy has many advantages over real microscopy in oral and maxillofacial pathology education. Furthermore, telepathology could also be applied in other pathological services, such as intraoperative frozen sections, routine surgical pathology, and subspecialty consultation.