Technology enhanced medical education using smart glasses for oral and dental examinations: an observational pilot study.

Background: The importance of dental knowledge in medical school education has been previously emphasized however, there have been limitation with adoption of a dental and oral examination component in the medical school curriculum, with hands-on training the least taught. Smart glasses have been used in a variety of applications and the objective of our study was to analyze the effectiveness of smart glasses use as a feedback tool in teaching and evaluating the oral exam performed by medical students.

Methods: The pilot study included ten medical students and a standardized patient. All ten medical students were provided with a didactic self-study online course on dental examinations and were arbitrarily assigned into two groups of five. One group was assigned to an intervention arm in which they performed an oral exam using the smart glasses and the other group performed the oral exam without the smart glasses. A preceptor supervised both groups and recorded his observations on a form. The students completed a questionnaire at the end of the study to discuss their experiences. The effectiveness of the smart glasses was reflected in a high summary score of the observations and the response to the questionnaire reflected the use of the smart glasses as a feedback tool.

Results: Our pilot study demonstrated feasibility of using the smart glasses as an effective tool for learning oral and dental examination. The student feedback was more favorable in the intervention group.

Conclusion: Our pilot study demonstrated that smart glasses were an effective tool to enhance medical education of the oral and dental examination performed by medical students. This technology can be explored further to conduct other innovative medical education projects.

Clinical trial number: Not applicable.