The aim of present study is to develop an experimental model using virtual reality (VR) to be used in teaching undergraduate dental students prosthetic dentistry. The student will be able to examine structures in the oral cavity and to see structures that normally cannot be seen. The purpose is also to simulate structural changes over time, for example in connection to periodontitis, edentulous conditions or when the patient is treated with dental prosthesis.

The working environment for a dentist is the mouth, a very limited and narrow milieu that is difficult to work in, even for the experienced clinician. A dental student must, over a very short period of time, be able to collect both theoretical as well as clinical knowledge about the oral function and how oral diseases appears and how they are treated. The virtual mouth simulates an oral cavity where the dental student can see the variation in normal anatomy, both visible structures and non visible structures such as nerves, muscles and bone. They can also see different forms of diseases and treatments, for example reconstructions of teeth and dentitions. The virtual mouth is also a flexible tool where both anatomical and biological conditions can be changed and where changes over time can be accelerated.

In a first step the project has been focusing on the creation of a milieu where the anatomy of the oral cavity can be studied both on the surface and deeper down. Different structures can be removed or made transparent so that structures beneath become visible.

The 3D model of the jaws and the oral cavity is created from 3D models from Visible Productions. In order to make the model complete, nerves, vessels and muscles were constructed. The original model was also deformed in order to simulate a totally edentulous maxillae and mandible. Furthermore, complete dental prostheses were constructed for the maxillae and mandible.

The next step is to create an interactive tool where different kinds of total or partial edentully conditions can be treated with prosthesis. Prosthesis designs in different ways can be tried and compared in the virtual mouth. Another development will be to create an interactive tool for visualizing the deformation of the bone structures over time and showing how this will affect the surrounding soft tissues. This tool will make it possible for the student to study how this in turn will affect the prosthetic replacements.

This demo shows how a VR-model, implemented on a ordinary PC with a graphic card, can be explored. First by the professor during class to introduce the students to the anatomical structures of the oral cavity and through prepared cases to different basic therapies. Secondly, the demo also shows how the experimental VR-model can be used as a valuable tool for the student in her individual studies of anatomy, diseases and making it possible to experiment with different prosthetic therapies.

Margareta Molin
Faculty of Medicine and Odontology
Department of Odontology/Prosthetic dentistry
Umea university
S-901 87 Umea
Sweden
Phone: +46 90 785 62 49
Fax: +46 90 77 44 60
Email: margareta.molin@odont.umu.se

CO-AUTHORS:

Anders Backman
HPC2N
Umea universitet
S-901 87 Umea
Sweden
Phone: +46 90 786 50 00
Email: andersb@cs.umu.se
Website: http://www.vrlab.umu.se