Arts and Engineering get their teeth into dentist training

A visiting PhD student from Iran's Tarbiat Modares University has developed a simulation for training dentists and bone surgeons.

Mohommadreza Arbabtafti has been working with Dr Barry Richardson, Director of the Bionics and Cognitive Science Centre (BCSC) in the Faculty of Arts, for the past nine months, using the centre's internationally-recognised virtual reality research facilities.

He also worked with Professor Bijan Shirinzadeh, Director of Robotics and Mechatronics Research in the Faculty of Engineering, to check that the simulation would look and feel real.

Dr Richardson said the simulation would allow trainee surgeons and dentists to learn techniques without risk to patients.

"Mohommadreza's work is an important development because it uses a physical model that takes into account the properties of bone material as well as size, shape and rotation speed of the tool used for the procedure," Dr Richardson said.

"As it uses a physical stylus, a trainee can receive tactile feedback instantly while receiving visual information on a computer screen (see photo right).

"It is also possible to scan a virtual three dimensional model of a patient's bone, which will allow trained surgeons to assess the likely success of various surgical procedures, again without risk to the patient."

Mr Tafti, who returns to Iran later this month to complete his PhD, said his time at Monash had been fruitful.

"Monash has high quality force feedback equipment not available in Iran," Mr Tafti said.

"The expertise in Cognitive Science and haptic programming in the BCSC helped me to optimise the simulation, and the facilities in the Faculty of Engineering were vital for the validation work.

"I also really appreciate the help I received from Research Fellows Jonathan Wells from BCSC and Yashar Madjidi in engineering."

The simulator is now being field tested by surgeons and dentists.