The challenge
Before dental students engage in patient care, they need to be knowledgeable and confident in their clinical skills. This is why conventional simulations in the physical world are essential in their early training.
One of the core oral surgery techniques every dentist must be proficient in is giving oral block anaesthetic injections. Skilled dentists can give this type of anaesthesia in just 60 seconds. It numbs a quarter of the face and lasts for as long as two hours, enabling dentists to carry out the procedures they need to do in a clinical session.
However, the technique is difficult to learn and students on most dental programmes in the US and around the world practise by having dental students inject each other. This doesn't just involve some clinical risk for the participants – it's also highly stressful. Because of this, NYU Dentistry moved away from peer-to-peer injections years ago.
But the alternative was students using practice mannequins to hone their injection technique. Not only are these inert pieces of plastic unrealistic, they are also expensive and they lack the inner anatomy that students must be familiar with.
Because of these challenges, most dental students around the world get to practise local anaesthesia technique in a single session before performing it on a live patient. This is a fundamental problem that needed to be solved.
