University of Eastern Finland uses Simodont dental trainer

In 2021 the Institute of Dentistry at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), in co-operation with the Kuopio University Hospital (KYS), introduced the Simodont dental trainer as part of their dental education curriculum. UEF is an international university with several campuses and over 16.000 degree students.

With a year of experience an informative article was posted on the university website: https://www.uef.fi/en/article/vr-haptic-training-offers-new-opportunities-for-dental-education

 Three Simodonts are now in use to help train students, and the university is researching and learning how to best expand the implementation of Simodont in their curriculum as part of their drive to ensure an evidence based program. The website article shares some of UEF’s experiences and views on Virtual Reality training and explains that the initial results are positive.

Hanna Hytönen who is responsible for coordinating the Simodont lab at UEF says: “According to the students’ open-ended responses, the new haptic device played a positive role in enabling 24/7 independent learning and it helped the students perform the drilling exercise more accurately, improved confidence, and reduced the students’ mental workload due to risk-free practice.”

 The Simodont equipment was provided with a multi-year support contract including software updates. The Simodont team is continuously working to improve Simodont with the help of feedback from UEF and other universities around the world.

picture courtesy of the University of Eastern Finland