Product and Services
Dental education in Sweden includes the theoretical approach to surgical wisdom tooth extraction, but unfortunately, students do not receive practical experience due to a limitation in resources. The aim of this interdisciplinary study was to develop a simulator that will allow students to learn and perfect surgical procedures in wisdom tooth extraction before applying their skills in real life situations.
Contextually valid requirements for developing the simulator were formulated based on interviews with surgeons and observations of their work. A volume based drill-bone interaction algorithm was implemented, making it possible to feel the shape of teeth and the vibrations when drilling. The user is thus able to receive real time feedback on the progress of the surgery. Surgeon's evaluation of the simulator showed that contextualized virtual jaw bone drilling was possible. Feedback regarding how some features should be improved were also obtained and taken into account when doing further development on the simulator. The tacit knowledge of using vision, hearing and touch that surgeons often rely on was also revealed.
