Progress and prospects in the application of extended reality (XR) in Orthodontics

Extended reality (XR) is a collective term for various technologies, including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). In recent years, XR has been applied in medical education and training, clinical therapy, and other fields. This scoping review aims to comprehensively summarize the current and potential use of XR in orthodontics. A systematic search was conducted to identify literature on the applications of XR in orthodontic education and training, doctor-patient communication, and orthodontic diagnosis and treatment published from 1999 to 2023. The search was conducted up to August 2023 to identify articles from Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, and Google Scholar. A total of 185 studies were screened and 12 articles were reviewed in depth. The applications proposed for XR are educational purposes in 4 studies, and orthodontic diagnosis and treatment in 8 studies. A comparison of studies on different applications indicates that XR technology has varying degrees of positive effects in orthodontic education and treatment. However, XR in orthodontics is still in its early stages of development, and further studies with larger samples and longer clinical trials are needed to confirm the potential positive effects of XR.