Development of an educational support tool with a quantitative recording system and feedback function for scaler...

Dental hygienists are professionals responsible for maintaining oral health and assisting in dental treatments. During their training programs, they acquire essential skills and knowledge, including precise intraoral instrument manipulation, such as scaling. Although technical textbooks are available, skills that rely on finger and hand sensations-such as instrument manipulation-are difficult to describe objectively, making instruction heavily dependent on the instructor's expertise. Previous studies have attempted to address this issue by developing measurement systems with inertial measurement units (IMUs) attached to scalers. However, while these systems record scaler dynamics qualitatively, they lack a visual feedback function, rendering them inadequate as self-learning tools for students. In this study, we installed two types of sensors on the scaler and the back of the hand and developed a monitor application that provides real-time visual feedback, allowing students to intuitively understand their operation. Furthermore, we added a function to measure the pressure between the supporting tooth and the fourth finger (fixation pressure) and display it on the monitor along with the scaler and wrist movements.