Virtual Reality as a novel educational tool in pre-clinical paediatric dentistry training: Students' perceptions

Dental students are required to demonstrate competency by pre-clinical simulated practice before performing invasive clinical procedures on patients. The Moog Simodont^® Dental Trainer provides a virtual reality-based dental simulation environment for training students.

This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study compared students' perception of the pre-clinical paediatric dentistry training gained in Simodont^® and conventional simulation environment.

The dental students who completed pulpotomies and stainless steel crowns (SSCs) training in Simodont^® and conventional pre-clinical simulation laboratory were invited to complete a questionnaire on their experience in both environments. The percentages for the distribution of responses to statements about training modality were tabulated, and intra-participant comparisons were used to measure student preference for either Simodont^® or conventional simulation training.

One hundred students completed the survey. Fifty-one per cent of students agreed that using Simodont^® assisted their learning, and 56% felt Simodont^® training facilitated their understanding of paediatric dentistry tasks. Generally, participants felt more comfortable with simulation training than Simodont^® for both practical exercises. Eighty-eight per cent of the participants disagreed that Simodont^® should replace conventional simulation.

The study suggests that Simodont^® could be used as an adjunct in training dental students for pre-clinical paediatric dentistry restorative exercises.