A new computer program will soon be used by dental students to help them learn and remember how to properly handle dental implant procedures. Faculty members at the School of Dentistry at the Medical College of Georgia have been working with students and a game-developer to create a simulation program which will help students reinforce and expand their learning.

In recent years, there has been a lot of interest and enthusiasm about developing simulation tools and virtual reality environments to help students learn. Dental implant procedures are growing in popularity and it is crucial for today’s dental students to understand the need for implants and how to use them. Dental implants are screwed into the jawbone and act as substitute roots which can then be used to attach prosthetic teeth. They are a popular alternative to bridges and crowns, and are expected to become even more prevalent in the near future. Currently, a quarter of all adults who are over the age of 60 have lost all of their natural teeth. For these patients, dental implants are an important option and as life spans are increasing and more of the country is aging, dental implant procedures are expected to increase as well.

The virtual reality game developed at the Medical College of Georgia allows a dental student to simulate the entire process of placing dental implants from the very beginning, when the virtual patient shows up at the simulated dental office. The game pairs a dental student with a virtual patient selected at random, which means the student has no way of knowing any information about the virtual patient without interacting with him or her. The student must find out as much information as possible about the patient’s medical history and treatment goals, and then suggest the best course to help the patient before the simulated procedure can begin.

If dental implants seem to be a good match for the virtual patient, the game will move to a virtual treatment area. The dental student must then decide the type of dental implants to be used, as well as where they will be located and how they will be oriented. Anesthesia must also be used, just as in real life, and if the anesthetic is not placed in the exact correct spot, the virtual patient will scream in pain when the dental implant procedure begins. It’s a valuable lesson for dental students that it is important to pay careful attention to each step of the treatment process.

Most students find the game interesting and fun, which is exactly how its developers hoped students would react. But although the game may be fun, it is also a valuable learning tool. In recent years, research has shown a solid correlation between healthcare clinicians who practice their skills via simulated software programs and better patient outcomes.

Despite the effectiveness of these learning programs, most experts agree that simulations can never take the place of actual clinical experience – of performing actual procedures on real patients. The simulations just provide the student with additional knowledge and confidence so that when they work on actual patients, they perform better than they might have otherwise.

The development of the game was funded by the Medical College of Georgia and Nobel Biocare, a company which manufactures dental implants. The program will soon be used at 25 dental schools around the world, reaching thousands of students.