Discussion
tooth
DENTAL CARIES, CAVITY
Pre-clinical teaching of restorative dentistry, specifically operative dentistry, aims at developing manual dexterity, which is fundamental for developing skills and competence in operative techniques across the board. Manual dexterity necessitates the development and consolidation of innate psychomotor skills and also requires simultaneous hand–eye coordination. The main objectives of contemporary operative dentistry are diagnosis of dental caries, removal of diseased tooth structure, cavity preparations based on minimal invasive approaches, and to restore structure, function and aesthetics [In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, and ensure student competency, the right tools must be provided to mimic real clinical cases and provide a smooth transition to clinics, with the ultimate goal of patient safety and satisfaction. VRHS are currently used as pedagogical tools for training students in the pre-clinical stage [Training dental students on restorative procedures using extracted natural teeth are considered the best option as they provide students the appropriate feedback sensation when drilling into the various layers of teeth. However, as there is a general tendency towards restoring and retaining teeth nowadays, having a suitable pool and stable supply of extracted human teeth proves challenging. Also, standardization across large cohorts, and difficulty to simulate occlusal and proximal relations may pose an issue [A study by Ria et al., (2018) in a UK dental school assessed the learning progression of first-year dental students using VRHS [Feedback provided to the learner is considered one of the most central variables to effective motor-skills learning. According to Van de Ridder et al., (2008), the goal of feedback in medical education is to improve the trainee’s performance [A variation was observed in the perceptions in the two groups in relation to the sequence of tasks. Group 1 mostly disagreed on starting the training on acrylic teeth prior to using VRHS, while the majority of Group 2 participants reported a preference starting with acrylic teeth first. Responses to open-ended questions also showed that the participants reported an unrealistic maneuver range of VRHS head and jaw, which is different to the experience on the mannequin. The characteristic of VRHS handpiece was different to the physical handpiece in terms of grip, weight, and water spray. All the former reasons suggest that despite some research findings advocating the integration of VRHS early in the undergraduate dental curriculum [According to the qualitative data in the current study, the majority of students in both groups did not consider that VRHS training has the potential to replace conventional dental mannequin training in a pre-clinical laboratory setting. However, VRHS was perceived to be appropriate to supplement pre-clinical training on mannequins. These findings are in consensus with other studies endorsing the use of VRHS as an adjunct rather than an alternative to conventional phantom head simulators [All year 3 students willingly participated in the current study; however, the relatively small number of participants and the single operative procedure might be a limitation. Longitudinal data on how VRHS training translates into clinical competence and empirically determine optimal pedagogical experiences can be further researched.While refraining from over generalization based on the study results, the following recommendations can be drawn when integrating VRHS into the dental training:Curriculum design:Consideration of the sequence of sessions between VRHS and CSE.Triangulation of self, instructor, and device feedback with an ultimate goal of enhancing student performance.Training instructors/supervisors to deliver standardized structured feedback tailored to VRHS tasks.Virtual Reality Haptic Simulator device:Further advancements in the VRHS handpiece grip, possibly simulating water spray/splatter.Further advancements in the VRHS software, rendering the tactile fidelity more realistic compared to natural teeth.Optimizing the viewing screen size, to enhance the user maneuver range around the screen.