Vinicius Dutra, School of Dentistry, and Zebulon M. Wood, School of Informatics and Computing
Principal Investigator: Vinicius Dutra, clinical associate professor, Department of Oral, Pathology, Medicine, and Radiology, School of Dentistry
Co-Principal Investigator: Zebulon M. Wood, lecturer, Department of Media Arts and Science, School of Informatics and Computing
Project Title: Use of Virtual Reality as a Radiology Teaching Tool for Dental Students
Funding Level: $3,500
Abstract: Dental radiology is an important subject to dental education. Taking intraoral radiographs is an essential skill for the dentist, and even though digital systems reduced processing errors, technical errors, related to sensor positioning, and to angle determination, are still present. Traditionally, preclinical radiology education is performed on specific phantoms to avoid unjustified exposure of patients and students to X-rays, however, radiographic errors are a common fact among dental schools, and the literature suggests that training contribute to students to make fewer retakes. One of the main difficulties of the students is to understand three-dimensional (3D) anatomy from two-dimensional (2D) images, which is the case of radiographic projections. Previous studies showed that students benefit from virtual and augmented reality, in better understanding the spatial relationship of the human body. However, to our knowledge, there is no data in the literature studying the use of virtual reality (VR) technologies as a teaching tool for intra-oral radiographs for dental students. Also, the use of VR may lower the cost of training, since there is no need to use expensive radiographic equipment and also different teaching scenarios can be created without much investment. Thus, the objective of this project is to develop innovative curricular materials, using VR technologies, for obtaining virtual models for preclinical intraoral radiographic education, and to test those models in a preclinical environment.
