Virtual reality used in undergraduate orthodontic education.

Introduction: Undergraduate dental students frequently have reduced clinical experience which presents a challenge for their dental education. Previously, we developed a virtual reality (VR) simulating the whole clinical treatment process of a patient with angle Class II division 1 malocclusion, and the VR also helped to explain some important orthodontic concepts. As a novel teaching tool, this study aims to compare the effects of VR versus traditional case analysis by Power Point (PPT) in inspiring student learning motivation and evaluating learning experience.

Materials and methods: A randomized, cross-over, stratified sampling method was taken to divide the fourth-year undergraduate dental students equally into two groups. The two groups were crossed over to use VR and PPT.

Results: For the whole study, results indicated that students in the VR group showed higher learning motivation (including attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction) than in the PPT group, but the differences between VR and PPT groups were not very big, and the median of the differences located at 0. For learning experience, students thought VR to be more useful, more enjoyable and more engaging, but the median of differences also located at 0. Notably, the majority of students had higher recommendations for VR than PPT, and the median difference located at 1. However, when the two phases were analysed separately, some items showed no significant differences between VR and PPT learning.

Conclusion: VR is a very useful adjunct to education compared to traditional case analysis by PPT, but we cannot exaggerate its benefits. Educators should make good use of VR to solve the difficult problems in education.