## 5 Virtual Reality Simulation (VRS) in Prosthodonics (Crown & Fixed Partial Denture)  
Prosthetic dentistry is a diverse domain offering specialized procedures for the replacement of missing teeth or facial structures. Fixed prosthesis involves cementation of crowns or bridges, while removable prosthesis includes complete or partial dentures. Substantial loss of tooth or bone necessitates the need for a complex prosthodonic procedure with minimum damage to other surrounding tissues. Therefore, a dynamic treatment approach is required. Morphological features, functional problems, and esthetics are some of the essential parameters which need comprehensive care by a prosthodontist for lucrative occlusal reconstruction and simultaneously use them to make a coherent procedure plan [60].  
The complexity of prosthetic procedures requires significant precision, and therefore the concept of creating digital clinical scenarios is extremely beneficial (especially during undergraduate programs). Experimental trials using virtual reality simulators such as _IDEA_ for bridge removal or _DentSimTM_(r) for crown and bridge exercises demonstrated significant improvement in the scores of students in various clinical applications of prosthodontics [12; 13; 61]. The virtual reality simulators introduced enabled students to keep a record of their progress while simultaneously viewing their cases, thereby offering promising results during the training process. Another salient feature of the system was its ability to produce sound alerts if the user errs during the procedure (for instance, cutting an adjacent sound tooth), thereby providing instant feedback and evaluating their performance. This feedback evaluation eventually curtails the load on teaching assistants and offered the potential not merely for students but also for a specialist to ameliorate their clinical skills [62]. [PERSON] et al. proposed that virtual reality dental simulation increased student's curiosity and eagerness to learn [63] while the obstacles regarding the conventional dental training programs were discussed by [PERSON] et al., who spotlighted the significance of VRS in undergraduate dental education [64].  
Established on student scores and preparation time, [PERSON] et al. evaluated the skills acquired using _DentsimTM_ for porcelain fused to metal crown preparation. The virtual reality simulator was incorporated with a real-time image processor which enabled learners to look and evaluate their preparations on a monitor. His findings suggest that the VRS system improved the crown preparation skills of students and reduced the procedural time in contrast to other groups [62]. In another educational study investigated and compared the differences in clinical skills of experts while the experimental group constituted students who were trained by Phantom Omni haptic system (SensAble Inc., Silicon Valley, CA, USA), the two groups were eventually graded by an expert. The calculation of scores was based on three parameters which included the time taken to perform the crown preparation, the force used, and the bur angulation. His findings suggest that the VRS used had the ability to differentiate between novice and experts [61]. Other experimental studies are summarized in Table 5. After overviewing, they reported that studies on the quality of crown preparation were good when instructed by VR dental simulators and were less time consuming as well. Student can easily revise the exercise many times (as per the needs of their course).