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VIRTUAL DENTISTRY BECOMES REALITY IN MULTIMEDIA LAB
By the time CWRU's School of Dentistry finishes a $2 million renovation project of its first- and second-year pre-clinical labs in 2002, the school will have one of the most hi-tech dental classrooms in the country, says Michael Landers, associate professor of oral diagnostics at the dental school. The dental school will fully integrate new technology into its pre-clinical program. "This clearly establishes us as one of the institutions that is cutting edge in its capability of using modern technology in delivering its education program," says Jerold Goldberg, dean of the dental school. The new classroom will be geared for what is a new "visual generation" of students, adds Landers. CWRU's dental faculty members were so impressed with the new teaching equipment that the school's 70 first-year dental students are starting dental school learning restorative techniques in a pod of four state-of-the-art DentSim stations. The dental school has purchased two units, and the other two are on loan from DentX America. According to Landers, these virtual reality settings provide a standardized, objective dental program and evaluation. The simulators are accessible 24 hours a day and seven days a week, allowing for student-paced progress. They also prepare students more quickly to work with actual patients in the dental school's clinic. "The computer doesn't care who you are, how you dress, or who your father is. This brings a level of standardization to the educational process that has never been achieved before," says Goldberg. He adds that this kind of objectivity may work well in terms of licensure, continuing education, and a variety of other activities that will help not only dental students, dental faculty, and dental education, but will impact the dental professional positively. T. Roma Jasinevicius, assistant professor of restorative dentistry, used a $10,000 Nord grant from CWRU's University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education to compare traditional teaching methods of dentistry with those on the simulators. The new equipment also makes dental education more efficient and effective, according to Goldberg. "The DentSims take faculty away from working on chores that are low-level-learning kinds of activities, and allows them to be freed up to help students who are having problems, to serve as role models, and to be involved in other dental activities." He adds that lit leaves the low-level interactions to the computer. Each $70,000 DentSim station has the feel of being in a dental office and comes with its own adjustable mannequin head-torso, drill, water and air syringes, suction, overhead light, cabinets, and computer monitor. The monitor displays in real time the dental lesson and student's work. An overhead infrared camera records the student's progress. It tracks sensors on the drill and head. In real time, the camera relays information through computer software to a monitor that displays 3D images of what the tooth should like, along with a color-coded image of the student's work, with comments and an evaluation on how precisely the tooth was prepared (drilled). Students can use the simulators for lessons on silver fillings (amalgams), composites, crowns, or other techniques that the faculty program into the computerized lesson plans. Landers says the equipment is designed so that each dental school can set its own standards for what it wants its students to attain. The standardization of virtual lessons "overcomes one of the biggest detriments to student learning-inconsistency," says Landers. "Every faculty member has his or her own vision of what the preparation should look like. That might be helpful once a student graduates, but for students trying to learn basic dental technique, it creates frustration for them," adds Landers. "These simulators have the ability to eliminate the frustration from the educational environment and expedite both the students' and the faculty members' time." Landers and Jasinevicius traveled around the country to see how dental schools have implemented a variety of new technology for teaching purposes. Landers estimates that as many as 15 dental schools use some kind of simulators in their programs. "We've done our homework," he says. After looking, listening, and asking questions, the faculty will couple the DentSims with KaVo America's standardized simulator heads in a drill-and-fill mode. After dental students prepare the teeth on the DentSim, the interchangeable and removable teeth can be inserted into simulator heads in another mock dental setting for filling. This allows a continuous flow in the education of the students, Landers adds. Support for the project has come from the University as well as alumni and corporate donations. CWRU provided the dental school with a $500,000 grant from the Provost's Opportunity Fund to spearhead the project. After renovations are completed, the new dental simulator lab at CWRU will have the capacity for 18 DentSims, and a new multimedia-learning laboratory will have 72 simulator workstations. In addition, the pre-clinical lab will be wired for multimedia teaching so that faculty can use an audio or visual format to facilitate student learning. Information will be able to be simultaneously broadcast to all stations throughout the lab. "This will be the most contemporary dental pre-clinical lab in the country," Landers says. CWRU will become one of only three schools in the country with 10 or more DentSims. DentX, an Israeli company that specializes in 3D graphics and real-time image processing, developed the virtual dental office. The equipment took $14 million to develop seven years ago. DentX America has supplied simulators to seven other dental schools in the United States. CWRU and the University of Tennessee will be the only schools with enough simulators to make them part of their curriculum.
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