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Jun 1, 2008 10:58 pm US/Central
Dental Students Practice Drill Skills On Dummies
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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One of the latest innovations is in how dentists are taught to wield the drill, and the University of Minnesota is on the cutting edge.
CBS
The sound of a dentist's drill isn't exactly music to most people's ears, is it? Though dentistry has come a very long way, the dreaded drill is still an oft-used, much-loathed tool.
When someone sticks one of these high-pitched power tools in your mouth, you would like to think it's not their first time around the dental block. One of the latest innovations is in how dentists are taught to wield the drill, and the University of Minnesota is on the cutting edge.
At the U's School of Dentistry, dentists in training first spend two years honing their manual dexterity.
There, row after row of "eager teethers" practice their craft, putting the medicine of the classroom to work in the mouths of silent mannequins. Instructors inspect every exercise and grade the effort.
"I think it's a great technology," said dental student Elizabeth Wawrzewski, who we caught training in this virtual world, of sorts, while her instructors monitored her work on a computer down the hall.
This is the first semester for the U's Simulation Clinic. Its 20 robot-looking patient stations cost $70,000 each, part of an overall $11 million renovation for the School of Dentistry, but professor Judith Buchanan said it's worth every penny.
"This is a quantum leap, absolutely," said Buchanan, adding that students learn twice as fast with the virtual patients.
Dental history and X-rays dictate the course of treatment. Real drills and cutting burrs slice away synthetic teeth. The ideal drilling pattern offers comparisons to students' efforts.
Programmed into the system are 116 procedures -- everything from crowns and root canals to fillings and cosmetic restorations.
Because dental students are actually working on living, breathing, pain-feeling patients by their third and fourth years in school, many find it a comfort to know they had a chance to practice here first.
"It's really surgery, you're removing human tissue," said Buchanan. "You can't put the tooth back, so it's very important that we have confidence that the students have the skills to work on patients."
Wawrzewski said she is certainly grateful at this stage to be able to tackle her technique without the accompanying tension.
"It makes it easier for me to practice and not be too concerned if I am hurting the patient," she said. "I actually can focus more on what I am working on, on the type of cavity I'm preparing."
Perhaps the next generation of robot simulations will jump and squirm and complain just like the rest of us, but for the time being, the patients here can only offer their feedback through unblinking infrared eyes.
The Simulation Clinic is open 24-7 and is used to teach all levels of students from beginners on up.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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