Simulation in dental medicine: Current state and prospects

In medicine, dental medicine and health care, the teaching literature is full of teaching strategies, methods and techniques that serve the teaching and learning of future health professionals. Among these strategies and methods, we find the medical simulation which consists in creating the closest possible care environments to clinical reality using natural, physical, computer or electronic equipment. Its aim is to teach technical and non-technical gestures and procedures for which direct teaching is impossible. In dental medicine, simulation is of unequal importance in the training, development and maintenance of the clinical skills of future practitioners. A large number of modalities have been developed for its uses, ranging from the use of natural teeth, phantom head, computer assisted simulation followed by virtual reality simulation with haptic feedback to robotization.