The chalk-and-talk era of dental training is ending. Professor James Field on why AI and VR are becoming essential tools for educators — not threats to them — and why the profession can’t afford to wait.
There is a quiet fear in medical and dental education today that artificial intelligence and virtual reality will soon render the human educator and trainer obsolete. While it’s very unlikely that AI will entirely replace human-led learning for practical-based oral health disciplines, we are already seeing a huge increase in AI-assisted learning tools.
There is no doubt that the traditional ‘chalk-and-talk’ method of communicating and imparting knowledge is rapidly dying. The way in which we teach and simulate operative care is also becoming rapidly operationalised by AI. Dental schools and training centres will need to think very carefully about how to position their use of AI-assisted technologies going forwards – particularly when some of the technologies for giving clinical feedback on operative tasks are shown to be more accurate and reliable than experienced clinical tutors.
While advancements in AI may take getting used to, it is of course inevitable. The AI system is consistent. It’s reliable. It doesn’t fatigue or become desensitised to repeat scenarios. It doesn’t avoid giving difficult or negative feedback. And, whether we like it or not, it is likely more cost effective to use it for teaching and assessing students, at least in part, compared to a traditional fully human workforce.
What we need to do now is to evolve and elevate our approach. What can we ask AI to do that has traditionally taken up so much of our valuable and costly time? What can we then spend our time doing which better supports our students and trainees?
One example that rides on the back of this wave of innovation is how dental educators and trainers are working to design AI agents that provide learners with interactive, realistic patient simulations that solve a number of traditional logistical headaches. With AI agents, we can set hidden guardrails for patient behaviours and grant students much greater access to low-stakes practice time that would otherwise be impossible to facilitate.
However, this technology must be viewed for what it currently is: a powerful supplement to, not a replacement for, our esteemed educators. Evidence shows that students strongly prefer to have a clinical teacher in the room during live VR exercises, despite knowing that the feedback the system provides is accurate and reliable. VR simply ensures that by the time students sit down with their human tutors – or their human patients – they have the potential to be significantly more prepared and more confident in carrying out operative interventions.
For me, one of the most significant benefits of harnessing VR for operative dental training is the reduced ecological cost, compared to our traditional training models. The dental profession carries a significant environmental footprint, generating immense physical waste in the form of PPE and microplastic waste. The heavy reliance on plastic teeth in training directly contributes to the crisis of microplastics entering our water systems. Moreover, the constant need for patients, actors, and staff to travel to physical training facilities historically stands as the single biggest contributor to our industry’s carbon footprint. By shifting a substantial portion of our education into the virtual realm, we could significantly reduce both plastic waste and travel-related emissions.
Of course, institutional inertia and barriers to widespread adoption remain. The high upfront costs of VR units and AI-systems, coupled with a lack of understanding and willingness to change among some educators and institutional decision-makers, are significant hurdles. But as our planet faces ecological pressures and our educational systems strain under demand, clinging to the status quo is a far more dangerous risk. The long-term benefits of investing, in part, in AI-based technologies are simply too great to ignore.
As educators and leaders in the dental profession, we have a responsibility to explore, test, and embrace innovations that assist us in producing a new generation of highly skilled, confident, and environmentally conscious practitioners. I believe that as a profession, we must commit to robustly exploring and, where appropriate, implementing these emerging tools to ensure our training remains at the global forefront, ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
Professor James Field will be delving deeper into these issues at the Dental Triennial Conference hosted by the RCSEd (October 22nd–23rd). Join him for his session, “Training in a Virtual World,” at 10:00 am on October 22nd, where he will cover workflow innovation, AI-powered patient simulation, and the sustainability impact of VR in dental training.
About the RCSEd Faculty of Dental Trainers:
Established in 2016 by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Faculty of Dental Trainers (FDT) is the first body of its kind in the UK dedicated specifically to supporting and recognising those involved in dental education. The Faculty’s core mission is to enhance patient care and safety by promoting exceptional teaching standards and officially rewarding dedication to training.
As a progressive global platform, the FDT is uniquely open to all qualified members of the dental team, regardless of their Royal College affiliation. It serves as a professional home that establishes clear educational benchmarks, offers tailored career development guidance, and champions the vital role of educators in dentistry.
Discover how the Faculty supports the dental education community at fdt.rcsed.ac.uk.
