Monday, November 19, 2001

Case Western Reserve U. Turns to Virtual Reality at Its Dental School By KATHERINE S. MANGAN What nerve! If there's anything scarier than having a dentist drill deep into one of your teeth, it's having a dental student do the job. Unless, of course, you're one of the dummies that end up at Case Western Reserve University's dental school. The dummies are virtual-reality mannequins that shriek "ow!" when a student drills amiss. Beginning next fall, all first- and second-year students will use the simulators to learn drilling techniques. The school has 4 of the mannequins now, and hopes to have at least 10 by next fall. Each $70,000 "Dentsim station" comes with an adjustable mannequin head and torso, a drill, water and air syringes, suction, an overhead light, and a computer monitor that tracks the dental lesson and the student's work. "The computer doesn't care who you are, how you dress, or who your father is," says Michael Landers, an associate professor of oral diagnostics at Case Western. "This brings a level of standardization to the educational process that has never been achieved before," he says. The stations are part of a $2-million project to renovate laboratories for first- and second-year students. Case Western officials estimate that about 15 dental schools in the United States use some kind of simulation techniques. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

TA's at Brown U. have right to form union, NLRB regional director says Psychology accreditor drops proposal that worried religious colleges Board details harassment allegations that led Northern Arizona U. president to quit Foundation pledges $100-million to children's hospital at Stanford U. Case Western Reserve U. turns to virtual reality at its dental school Some fear that ties between Microsoft and Blackboard could diminish colleges' choices Canada's education ministers endorse high-speed network