Learning by doing virtually

Endodontic Applications of Cone-Beam Volumetric Tomography

“…Virtual surgery can offer a 1:1 visualization of bony reduction and a realistic drilling sensation by using force feedback, shutter glasses, and 3-D reconstructions of CBVT data (77). Von Sternberg et al (78) have shown that novice surgeons who received presurgical virtual training had a 6-fold increase in the probability of preserving critical adjacent structures. Experienced surgeons might also find surgical simulation useful in planning complex surgical procedures (78).…”

A laboratory training and evaluation technique for computer‐aided oral implant surgery

“…Second, the closer the resemblance between the situations in which something is learned and the situation in which it is to be applied, the better the performance can be expected. In contrast to pure computer simulations and virtual learning facilities, a real drilling procedure is implemented and the only difference between treatment of a real patient and training on the dummy is the surgery (drilling) of the dental stone cast instead of the real patient (19,27,28). To mimic the situation in the patient as closely as possible, proper aseptic protocols, including gloves, masks and eye wear, are used (29).…”

“…The presented laboratory training technique may also be used in routine clinical practice for preoperative simulation of implant surgery in difficult cases or for preoperative training of less experienced surgeons. As an additional application in oral medicine, periapical surgery may be simulated and evaluated similar to the virtual apicectomy simulator presented by von Sternberg et al (28) and to the phantom simulation by Pinsky et al (35).…”

“…The stone cast material does not provide a simulation of the gingival tissue. However, in a real patient the approach to the bone is considered neither difficult nor dangerous and can be simply made by a marginal incision of the gingiva (28). The drilling procedure on dental stone cast may show substantial differences to real bone tissue.…”

Teaching Otolaryngology skills through simulation

“…However, surgery is not just about manual dexterity and is largely a decision-making process where good communication and team working skills are paramount [13]. There is also some convincing evidence in surgery that simulation does work with an improvement seen in real-world laparoscopic cholecystectomy skills after VR training [18] and also in apicectomy skills on cadaveric dental specimens following VR training by maxillofacial surgeons [19].…”