Investigating the construct validity of a haptic virtual caries simulation for dental education

Area of Science:

• Dental Education
• Simulation Technology
• Caries Management

Background:

• Traditional preclinical dental training faces limitations in simulating realistic caries removal.
• Existing methods using plastic teeth or natural teeth lack standardization and tactile feedback.
• A novel haptic simulation offers a potential solution for improved dental caries education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the construct validity of a haptic caries simulation.
• To assess if haptic simulation enhances understanding of caries removal.
• To compare the performance of novice dental students and experienced clinicians in a simulated caries removal task.

Main Methods:

• A virtual reality dental trainer (Simodont) was used to create a caries simulation with healthy dentine, enamel, pulp, and a carious lesion along the amelodentinal junction (ADJ).
• 112 first-year dental students and 17 experienced clinicians participated after a brief training period.
• Participants were instructed to remove unsupported enamel and caries while preserving healthy tissue.

Main Results:

• Experienced clinicians demonstrated superior precision and overall performance compared to novice dental students.
• Both groups removed similar amounts of healthy dentine.
• Clinicians generally removed more carious material.

Conclusions:

• The haptic caries simulation exercise showed construct validity, with experienced dentists outperforming novices.
• This simulation may serve as a valuable tool for assessing the conceptual understanding of caries removal.
• The haptic simulation has the potential to bridge the gap between preclinical and clinical dental education.