A lot of what we're looking at is changing how we teach, so we teach more effectively. Not only will students be able to learn clinical techniques, but faculty and professionals can be trained on new procedures. This provides the opportunity for dental and dental hygiene students to learn to work as a team, which is not possible with current simulators. The workstation features an ergonomically correct mannequin with upper torso in the center. Two other mannequin heads allow for individual work on either side.
Computer screens allow video images to be sent to the students from the instructor's workstation.
These monitors have Internet capabilities, so students can surf the World Wide Web for assistance. With software now being developed at the Dental Branch, faculty members will be able to create clinical situations that teach students how to react to a variety of real-life situations. In any professional's office, interesting things can happen that you can't always anticipate. Dental Branch Assistant Professor of General Practice Marilyn Ward, D.D.S., said the simulators will give students a feel of how it is to work on a human being. In the past, we've had this little head on a metal bar, and students would turn it upside down and start working, because they can see better.