Dental Sim Clinic at University of Minnesota

Patrick Lloyd: Welcome I’m Patrick Lloyd, Dean of the University Of Minnesota School
Of Dentistry, and I am here to give you a virtual tour of our new simulation clinic.
Its here were using the latest simulation technology to improve and test our students
hand eye coordination. It’s also where our students learn the techniques and procedures
they will ultimately use in practice and where we get them ready for the clinical years of
their education. Our new 11,200 sq. foot simulation clinic is designed to create a realistic patient
environment. These 100 simulation stations are engineered so that students can fine tune
the manual dexterity and hand eye coordination. By practicing restorative procedures on manikins
with life like shoulders and heads, an adjustable lower jaw and oral cavities with flexible
cheeks and a full complement of teeth. Operating equipments includes high and low speed hand
pieces with fiber optics and water spray, along with suction to remove water and debris.
Course directors demonstrate procedures from a central station while students watch on
personal flat screen monitors. No more leaning over some ones shoulder to watch an instructor
to do a demo, every student will have a front row seat. Our faculty have always been dedicated
to train top professionals but with equipments such as 20 new advanced simulation machines
a student won’t have to wait for an instructors approval to proceed to the next step. Compute
rated technology detects when a student’s performance isn’t meeting a standard, stores
visual records for review and because it’s automated the subjectivity often associated
with grading is minimized. Computerized training will help our faculty identify when students
are ready to move into patient clinics. The advanced stimulation stations are equipped
with motion tracking systems, on screen text books and patient histories and readied graphs
for over 100 clinical procedures of varying difficulty. Light admitting dials on the manikin
and hand piece measure the angle and depth of the student’s preparation in tenths of
a millimeter. Feeding the information to an over head infrared camera and into the computer,
chair side monitors instantly display feedback in numeric measurements and 3D color images
that show how much and where the tooth was drilled. In a solid real time with an image
of the students work displayed along side with what the faculty was expecting them to
produce, evaluation is instant. Here in the school of dentistry at the University of Minnesota
we educate general dentists, dental hygienists, dental specialists, dental educators and dental
researchers. We are the states only dental school, and the only dental school between
Milwaukee and Seattle. We educate over 80% of the states practicing dentists, 58 % of
Minnesota’s practicing dental specialists, and 49% of its dental hygiene educators. Our
researchers develop and test dental materials used by nearly every dentist. Our training
and work touches virtually very Minnesotan and thousands of patients all over the world.
In addition to our new simulation equipment we also have a new wet lab, where our students
learn to create models of manikins’ teeth, not unlike what they will do treating real
patients. These models are also used to practice the steps a dentist goes through for making
crowns, bridges, dentures and even dental implants. The equipment in this room is highly
specialized to assist students in performing these precise procedures. It to help’s students
develop an appreciation for the intricacy associated for caring for patients with complex
treatments needs. Thank you for joining me on this virtual tour, to learn more about
the University Of Minnesota School Of Dentistry visit our website at www.dentistry.umn.edu
.