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COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article

Front. Dent. Med.

Sec. Systems Integration

Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdmed.2025.1576646

This article is part of the Research Topic VR-Haptic Technologies and Their Applications in Dental Education View all articles

Insights from the global education survey on the use of VR-haptics in dental education

Provisionally accepted
Sompop Bencharit Sompop Bencharit 1Barry Francis Quinn Barry Francis Quinn 2Maria Florencia Stittoni-Pino Maria Florencia Stittoni-Pino 3Santiago Arias Santiago Arias 3Simona Schick Simona Schick 4Sarah Rampf Sarah Rampf 4Samantha Byrne Samantha Byrne 5Muhammad A. Shazib Muhammad A. Shazib 1Ulf Örtengren Ulf Örtengren 6Walter Y. H. Lam Walter Y. H. Lam 7Mikko Liukkonen Mikko Liukkonen 8David P Rice David P Rice 9Masako Nagasawa Masako Nagasawa 10Amitha Ranauta Amitha Ranauta 11Sobia Zafar Sobia Zafar 12Kinga Bágyi Kinga Bágyi 13Thomas Greany Thomas Greany 14Amirul Faiz Luai Amirul Faiz Luai 15Marit Øilo Marit Øilo 16Gitana Rederiene Gitana Rederiene 17Rebecca Stolberg Rebecca Stolberg 18Gülsün Gül Gülsün Gül 18Jorge Tricio Jorge Tricio 19Reinhard, Chun Wang Chau Reinhard, Chun Wang Chau 7Mihaela Pantea Mihaela Pantea 20Murat Mutluay Murat Mutluay 21Peter Karl Lingström Peter Karl Lingström 6Ophir Klein Ophir Klein 22,23Sila Nur Usta Sila Nur Usta 24Anna Liisa Suominen Anna Liisa Suominen 8Szabolcs Felszeghy Szabolcs Felszeghy 21*
  • 1 Workmann School of Dental Medicine, High Point University, High Point, North Carolina, United States
  • 2 School of Dentistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, North West England, United Kingdom
  • 3 Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Europea de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
  • 4 Clinic for Oral, Dental and Maxillofacial Diseases, Department of Conservative Dentistry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
  • 5 Melbourne Dental School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  • 6 Department of Cariology, Institute of Odontology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 7 Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 8 Institute of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Northern Savonia, Finland
  • 9 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland
  • 10 Faculty of Dentistry & Graduate School of Medical and Dental sciences, Division of Bio-Prosthodontics, Niigata University, Niigata, Niigata, Japan
  • 11 Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
  • 12 School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia
  • 13 Faculty of Dentistry, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hajdu-Bihar, Hungary
  • 14 University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
  • 15 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center (UKMMC), Cheras, Malaysia
  • 16 Department of Clinical Dentistry,, University of Bergen, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway
  • 17 European Dental Hygienists Federation,, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • 18 ADEA, New York, United States
  • 19 University of the Andes, Chile, Las Condes, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
  • 20 Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
  • 21 University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Northern Savonia, Finland
  • 22 Program in Craniofacial Biology, Department of Orofacial Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 23 Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 24 Gulhane Faculty of Dentistry, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Haptics-enhanced virtual reality (VR-haptics), a supplementary tool for traditional oral health training, shows promise in enhancing knowledge acquisition, manual dexterity, performance, and student well-being.Aim: The aim of this study was to understand dental educators' perceptions and needs regarding the acceptability and application of VR-haptics in dental education, as well as to gather suggestions for system improvements.Methods: In this global cross-sectional study, the VR-Haptic Thinkers Consortium used a 28-item online questionnaire distributed to 1,023 participants by August 1, 2024. The survey included questions on general demographics, multiple choice and five-point Likert-style questions, and openended questions.Results: A total of 378 responses were collected from 156 institutions. 57% of respondents had a dental doctorate degree and 59% had a PhD. VR-haptic trainers were used more often in preclinical training (94% of responses) than clinical training (46%). The three most common course types with VR-haptics incorporation were restorative, prosthodontic, and endodontic courses. Most respondents thought that the best approach to implementing VR-haptics is alongside phantom head training in the preclinical stage (58%). A third of the feedback on the challenges in VR-haptics utilization in dental training highlighted a need for further hardware and software development, while more than onefourth cited economic issues in system acquisition and housing, and another one-fourth reported low acceptance of the technology among educators and students. The most mentioned enhancement requests for dental trainers were more diverse training scenarios (20%), improved software (19%) and hardware (19%) elements, and advancements in AI-based personalized training and monitoring (18%). Additionally, 10% of respondents suggested gamification features.Conclusions: VR-haptic technology is constantly evolving and will likely become more and more accepted as an integral part of dental hand skill development to complement traditional preclinical training. Future research and development should emphasize transitioning from preclinical to clinical restorative, prosthodontic, endodontic, and implantology procedures as part of individualized education and patient care.

    Keywords: dental education, Challenges, Haptic technology, implementation barriers, virtual reality

    Received: 14 Feb 2025; Accepted: 28 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Bencharit, Quinn, Stittoni-Pino, Arias, Schick, Rampf, Byrne, Shazib, Örtengren, Lam, Liukkonen, Rice, Nagasawa, Ranauta, Zafar, Bágyi, Greany, Luai, Øilo, Rederiene, Stolberg, Gül, Tricio, Chau, Pantea, Mutluay, Lingström, Klein, Usta, Suominen and Felszeghy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Szabolcs Felszeghy, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Northern Savonia, Finland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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