"Introducing Haptic Simulation as a Teaching Method in Odontology in Mexico. What the COVID-19 Pandemic Left Us"

Abstract

Haptic simulation is considered today as a complementary tool widely used in different medical areas, such as dentistry. The use of this technology in this area has been gaining more and more fields, due to the advantages it offers over traditional education methods, it allows students to practice in an unlimited way, in a very real scenario of what they will do in clinical practice, in addition to the simulation equipment allowing them to obtain feedback, discriminating in the user's learning level. This tool can be used in various procedures in different dental specialties, such as restorative dentistry, endodontics, oral surgery, and local anesthesia, among others. Although the introduction of this technology in dental education has taken many years, in our country, we have only had the first approaches, and we have observed encouraging results in the students, resulting in a positive experience for them, so we can assure that this type of new education model provides a better focus and quality to the preclinical training system in dentistry.