Augmented reality in clinical dental training and education

Dentistry is a profession that requires coordinated motor skills in addition to acquired knowledge for ideal execution of any treatment plan for patients. Learning experiences have been modified over a period of time for students as well as for the healthcare providers. Conventional pre-clinical training employed the use of cadavers, but financial, ethical and supervisory constraints have become a major shortcoming. With the adaptation of technology in dentistry, pre-clinical training has now employed simulation. It provides the opportunity for students to develop psychomotor skills for procedures by practising pre-clinical, standardised learning competencies before they engage in patient-management. Simulation involves computer-aided learning, augmented reality and virtual reality, which are largely taking over pre-clinical teaching. Augmented reality is commonly being employed in maxillofacial, restorative, tooth morphology learning and mastering technique for administering local anaesthesia in dentistry. Virtual reality is being employed particularly in pre-treatment implant planning and dental education for students. Use of haptic technology, like robotics, is also gaining popularity, and facilitates a two-way communication between the user and the environment to better simulate the clinical setting for learning purposes

Game-Based Learning, Gamification in Education and Serious Games

The aim of this book is to present and discuss new advances in serious games to show how they could enhance the effectiveness and outreach of education, advertising, social awareness, health, policies, etc. We present their use in structured learning activities, not only with a focus on game-based learning, but also on the use of game elements and game design techniques to gamify the learning process. The published contributions really demonstrate the wide scope of application of game-based approaches in terms of purpose, target groups, technologies and domains and one aspect they have in common is that they provide evidence of how effective serious games, game-based learning and gamification can be

Haptic-Enhanced Learning in Preclinical Operative Dentistry

Background: Virtual reality haptic simulators represent a new paradigm in dental education that may potentially impact the rate and efficiency of basic skill acquisition, as well as pedagogically influence the various aspects of students’ preclinical experience. However, the evidence to support their efficiency and inform their implementation is still limited. Objectives: This thesis set out to empirically examine how haptic VR simulator (Simodont®) can enhance the preclinical dental education experience particularly in the context of operative dentistry. We specify 4 distinct research themes to explore, namely: simulator validity (face, content and predictive), human factors in 3D stereoscopic display, motor skill acquisition, and curriculum integration. Methods: Chapter 3 explores the face and content validity of Simodont® haptic dental simulator among a group of postgraduate dental students. Chapter 4 examines the predictive utility of Simodont® in predicting subsequent preclinical and clinical performance. The results indicate the potential utility of the simulator in predicting future clinical dental performance among undergraduate students. Chapter 5 investigates the role of stereopsis in dentistry from two different perspectives via two studies. Chapter 6 explores the effect of qualitatively different types of pedagogical feedback on the training, transfer and retention of basic manual dexterity dental skills. The results indicate that the acquisition and retention of basic dental motor skills in novice trainees is best optimised through a combination of instructor and visualdisplay VR-driven feedback. A pedagogical model for integration of haptic dental simulator into the dental curriculum has been proposed in Chapter 7. Conclusion: The findings from this thesis provide new insights into the utility of the haptic virtual reality simulator in undergraduate preclinical dental education. Haptic simulators have promising potential as a pedagogical tool in undergraduate dentistry that complements the existing simulation methods. Integration of haptic VR simulators into the dental curriculum has to be informed by sound pedagogical principles and mapped into specific learning objectives

Aerospace Medicine and Biology. A continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 244 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1981. Aerospace medicine and aerobiology topics are included. Listings for physiological factors, astronaut performance, control theory, artificial intelligence, and cybernetics are included

Objective assessment and feedback generation in dental surgical simulation : a framework based on correlating procedure and outcome

Fine motor skill is indispensable for a dentist. As in many other medical fields of study, the traditional surgical master-apprentice model is widely adopted in dental education. Recently, virtual reality (VR) simulators have been employed as supplementary components to the traditional skill-training curriculum, and numerous dental VR systems have been developed academically and commercially. However, the full promise of such systems has yet to be realized due to the lack of sufficient support for formative feedback. Without such a mechanism, evaluation still demands dedicated time of experts in scarce supply. With the aim to fill the gap of formative assessment using VR simulators in skill training in dentistry, this thesis presents a framework to objectively assess the surgical skill and generate formative feedback automatically. VR simulators enable collecting detailed data on relevant metrics throughout a procedure. Our approach to formative feedback is to correlate procedure metrics with the procedure outcome in order to identify the portions of a procedure that need to be improved. Prior to the correlation, the procedure outcome needs to be evaluated. The scoring algorithm designed in this thesis provides an overall score and identifies specific errors and their severity. Building upon this, we developed techniques to identify the portion of the procedure responsible for the errors. Specifically, for the errors in the outcome the responsible portions of the procedure are identified based on correlation of location of the error. For some types of feedback one mode may be more suitable than another. Tutoring formative feedback are provided using the video- and haptic- modalities. The effectiveness of the feedback systems have been evaluated with the dental students with randomized controlled trials and the findings show the feedback mechanisms to be effective and have potentials to use as valuable supplemental training resources

Artificial Intelligence for Student Assessment: A Systematic Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being implemented in more and more fields, including education. The main uses of AI in education are related to tutoring and assessment. This paper analyzes the use of AI for student assessment based on a systematic review. For this purpose, a search was carried out in two databases: Scopus and Web of Science. A total of 454 papers were found and, after analyzing them according to the PRISMA Statement, a total of 22 papers were selected. It is clear from the studies analyzed that, in most of them, the pedagogy underlying the educational action is not reflected. Similarly, formative evaluation seems to be the main use of AI. Another of the main functionalities of AI in assessment is for the automatic grading of students. Several studies analyze the differences between the use of AI and its non-use. We discuss the results and conclude the need for teacher training and further research to understand the possibilities of AI in educational assessment, mainly in other educational levels than higher education. Moreover, it is necessary to increase the wealth of research which focuses on educational aspects more than technical development around AI

Research on real-time physics-based deformation for haptic-enabled medical simulation

This study developed a multiple effective visuo-haptic surgical engine to handle a variety of surgical manipulations in real-time. Soft tissue models are based on biomechanical experiment and continuum mechanics for greater accuracy. Such models will increase the realism of future training systems and the VR/AR/MR implementations for the operating room

Facial Expression Rendering in Medical Training Simulators: Current Status and Future Directions

Recent technological advances in robotic sensing and actuation methods have prompted development of a range of new medical training simulators with multiple feedback modalities. Learning to interpret facial expressions of a patient during medical examinations or procedures has been one of the key focus areas in medical training. This paper reviews facial expression rendering systems in medical training simulators that have been reported to date. Facial expression rendering approaches in other domains are also summarized to incorporate the knowledge from those works into developing systems for medical training simulators. Classifications and comparisons of medical training simulators with facial expression rendering are presented, and important design features, merits and limitations are outlined. Medical educators, students and developers are identified as the three key stakeholders involved with these systems and their considerations and needs are presented. Physical-virtual (hybrid) approaches provide multimodal feedback, present accurate facial expression rendering, and can simulate patients of different age, gender and ethnicity group; makes it more versatile than virtual and physical systems. The overall findings of this review and proposed future directions are beneficial to researchers interested in initiating or developing such facial expression rendering systems in medical training simulators.This work was supported by the Robopatient project funded by the EPSRC Grant No EP/T00519X/