Establishing the VR-haptic thinkers group: Insights and progress in dental training technologies
In today's fast-paced, digitalized world, dental educators and professionals alike need to try and stay up to date on current learning methods to provide the best possible education to the new generations of students. VR-haptic training allows educators to guide students in performing dental exercises within a digital environment using input methods with tactile force feedback features. This can reduce the mental burden of students due to fear of failure, as material losses are no longer a factor. Additionally, students can practice in their own time and pace, outside of teaching hours. Despite being digital, this mode of teaching has been shown to enable skill transfer to the real world, affording educators more flexibility with how to teach their students both before and during traditional methods of practical dental education. To help support the embracement of this new technology, a global VR-Haptic Thinkers Consortium was established in early 2024 and is now formed of 36 partner universities, institutions, and industrial companies. The second VR-Haptic Thinkers Meetup, held in mid-2024, was given the theme of "VR-Haptic Dentistry, Pedagogy, and Curriculum Evolution". The theme of the meetup was timely as in recent years dental educators have all faced many challenges in education and research and have had to deal with rapid changes in supportive VR-haptic education. A robust program was featured to engage with the dental community members who are curious about the new technological advancements in dental education.
Authors
- Simona‐Georgiana Schick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2301-8046)
- Martina Maggio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1143-1127)
- Sompop Bencharit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3715-8971)
- Sarah Rampf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3540-0041)
- Michael D. Wolcott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3254-3643)
- Nicla Flacco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2937-2479)
- Kristin Ackerman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5187-1605)
- David A. V. Morton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1491-6517)
- Gülsün Gül
- Samantha Byrne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0217-2781)
- Mikko Liukkonen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4259-4041)
- M. Lampe
- Outi Huhtela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1853-3182)
- Scott Bell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4713-4084)
- César Orsini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5226-3625)
- Anna Liisa Suominen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8543-0055)
- Amitha Ranauta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0733-5642)
- Masako Nagasawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4436-2129)
- Barry Quinn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9058-3849)
- Jorge Tricio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2364-9828)
- Szabolcs Felszeghy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2656-3939)
- Muhammad Ali Shazib (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4424-2488)
- Damiano Pasqualini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0365-0626)
- Giorgia Carpegna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5593-6453)
- Mahmoud M. Bakr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4037-5870)
- Ben Audsley
- M.D. Durham
- Murat Mutluay
- Kandace Gourley
- Hanna Hytönen
- Carlos López‐Roig
- María P. Rodríguez‐Hopp
- Thomas J Greany
- Rebecca Stolberg
- Maria F. Sittoni‐Pino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1233-1452)
- Santiago Arias‐Herrera
Institutions
- High Point University (US)
- University of East Anglia (GB)
- Griffith University (AU)
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Queen Mary University of London (GB)
- University of Eastern Finland (FI)
- Universidad de Los Andes, Chile (CL)
- University of Utah (US)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University Hospital Heidelberg (DE)
- American Dental Education Association (US)
- Kuopio University Hospital (FI)
- Research Institute of Health Sciences (ES)
- Universitat de les Illes Balears (ES)
- University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (US)
- University of Turin (IT)
- Niigata University (JP)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Universidad Europea de Madrid (ES)
- Universidad Diego Portales (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Saudi Dental Journal
- Published
- 2024-11-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sdentj.2024.11.008
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- Dental Research and COVID-19
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.53
Funders
- International Association for Dental Research