Online Haptic 3D Virtual Reality Trains Dentists

An online training tool that uses haptics and virtual reality serves as a Guinea pig for dental students practicing their technique -- so you don't have to. Called PerioSim and developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the site shows a rendered 3D human mouth, which can be viewed at any angle or in a variety of visual "modes." The student then uses a special "stylus" that controls an on-screen dental instrument, and can "FEEL THE SENSATIONS in the virtual mouth" -- presumably those that would be felt by the dentist holding the instrument, not the patient. Here comes the VIDEO!