ArticleEuropean journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe2026
Teaching Dental Students Paediatric Behaviour Guidance With Virtual Reality: A Three-Year Study.
Article in European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Design, Implementation, and Effectiveness of Virtual Reality and Digital Simulation Tools for Pediatric Dental Behavior Management Education: Systematic Review.JMIR serious games · 2026Review
- Teaching Dental Students Paediatric Behaviour Guidance With Virtual Reality: A Three-Year Study.European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionThe aim was to evaluate the use of low-cost virtual reality (VR) simulation on teaching behaviour guidance of paediatric dental patients in multiple cohorts of dental students.
methodsThis cohort study recruited third-year dental students from three consecutive years (2021-2023). The intervention was a validated VR scenario used in a previous pilot. The students were evaluated at three phases: preintervention (baseline), postintervention, and postclinical (3 months after intervention). Demographics, impact of the VR intervention, empathy score, and self-perceived ability and comfort of managing paediatric dental patients were collected and analysed.
resultsThe study recruited 181 dental students. 96% agreed that the VR intervention helped them better empathise with children. Most agreed that it made them more comfortable communicating (75%) and more confident interacting (82%) with children. Objective empathy scores significantly increased from preintervention to postintervention (110.50 ± 11.12 vs. 114.94 ± 11.55, p = 0.002) and remained unchanged at postclinical phase (112.17 ± 11.41). Additionally, students perceived themselves to be significantly more confident at communicating with children (5.61 ± 1.88 vs. 6.33 ± 1.74, p < 0.001), at interacting with children (5.83 ± 1.97 vs. 6.41 ± 1.70, p = 0.014), and performing dental procedures on children (4.44 ± 1.73 vs. 5.37 ± 1.71, p < 0.001) postintervention and remained elevated postclinical, suggesting better clinical performance when managing paediatric dental patients.
conclusionVR simulation was effective as an adjunct for the teaching of behaviour guidance of paediatric dental patients to dental students. The intervention was well received and improved both objective and subjective outcomes.
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