The effect of virtual reality simulators on tooth preparation skills of dental students

It has been considered that the preclinical education may be inadequate in the development of preparation skills of dental students. With technological developments, there is an increase in the use of computer-aided simulations in dental education. Virtual reality (VR) patient simulators promise practice in a realistic environment with detailed, frequent and objective feedback, but it remains unclear whether these features lead to better or faster skill acquisition. This study aims to investigate the impact of virtual reality simulations on students' clinical preparation skills.

In this study, tooth preparation data of 100 fourth-year students who practiced preparation with a virtual reality device and had real patient experience, as well as a group of 100 fifth-year students who had no prior virtual reality experience but had real patient experience, were transferred to the exocad^® DentalCAD program, a CAD software, for the measurement of TOC (Total Occlusal Convergence) angles. The data obtained from these measurements were analyzed using the SPSS program. In addition to this study, 25 random individuals from both groups underwent preparation in a phantom model in order to make a comparison between different experience environments. Finally, a questionnaire was administered to the group trained in the simulator to evaluate the students' perspective on this new training method. Independent sample T test and single sample analysis of variance (ANOVA), which are parametric test methods, and Tukey HSD, which is a post hoc test, were used in statistical analyses. With the t test, which is used to investigate whether there is a difference between two sample groups in terms of averages, we aimed to investigate the significance between class level and tooth cutting surface by using group statistics and descriptive analysis data of the preparations. With the ANOVA test, which is a statistical analysis method used to compare the averages between at least three groups, we looked at whether the preparations we made in 3 different experience environments produced a significant result according to the tooth cutting surface, and then we investigated which experience group was the source of the significance with the tukey test.

In the descriptive statistical analysis, it was determined that the average preparation angles of the 4th-year students were lower than those of the 5th-year students. Accordingly, it is possible to say that grade levels affect all surface preparation results in a statistically significant way. In descriptive statistics regarding patient preparation experience, the averages of the preparation angles taken according to the tooth surfaces of the 4th and 5th Grades are; The averages of the mesial, distal and buccal surfaces are close to each other, but only on the palatal surfaces, there is a significant difference between the averages of the 4th Grade (12.46) and the current average of the 5th Grade (15.22). The results of the Independent Samples T-Test conducted in the context of grade levels and four surface areas, is examined, it is seen that there are statistically significant differences between grade levels and the preparation results of all surfaces (p < 0.05).

According to the results of this study, students who used virtual reality simulators were more successful in terms of tooth preparation angles compared to students who did not use virtual reality simulators. This study demonstrated that the use of virtual reality simulators contributes to tooth prepartion skills.