Publication Summary
There are an abundance of digital simulation technologies available to support the delivery of dental education, but questions of how to best use these systems to maximize pedagogical benefit abound. To better understand the state-of-art, dental educators from across Europe were invited to a workshop in Leeds, England to reflect on how they use simulation for teaching, the benefits and challenges it brings, and in light of the increasing prevalence of virtual reality-based simulators, explore how dental education can most benefit from emerging technologies in the coming years. Over a period of 2.5 years, notes from the workshop discussions were shared globally with the wider educational community. Contributors included dentists, dental educators, educational researchers, healthcare specialists from disciplines with related challenges (surgeons performing minimally invasive procedures), psychologists studying the processes underlying human learning, engineers pioneering the development of surgical technologies, and computer scientists working at the cutting edge of virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Contentious issues were debated and documented and in sum, individuals representing 31 institutions across the globe contributed to work that has culminated in the present report- the first International Consensus report on the state-of-art in dental simulation research and pedagogical practice. We detail when and where simulation could be utilized with reference to the current evidence base and outline outstanding questions. In doing so, we hope to inspire future educationalists to undertake the empirical work necessary to identify how we can take advantage of the transformative potential of digital simulation technologies to accelerate the learning process and improve dental healthcare training and delivery.
CAER Authors

Dr. Faisal Mushtaq
University of Leeds - Associate Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience

Prof. Mark Mon-Williams
University of Leeds - Chair in Cognitive Psychology