The simulator blueprint
Six stations, mapped to the real standards
The VR simulator is built as six stations, mapped one-to-one with reference to CODA, DANB, CDC and ADEA competencies. The design rule from the literature is functional fidelity over photorealism — correct sequence, decision points and visible consequences teach more than pretty tissue. Stations are scoped to assisting, prevention/screening and reprocessing, where pick up · place · pass · point · chart can be represented with functional fidelity.
Standards framing — read it exactly. There is no dental-specific VR mandate: no CODA, ADEA or CDC document sets a VR fidelity level, hours credit, or assessment-validity standard. The framing used across this site is “designed with reference to” these bodies — never “compliant with” or “accredited by” them. Fine haptic drilling is not simulated: visual and auditory proxies (colour change, resistance meter, sound change) are labelled as proxies, and no haptic realism is claimed.
A · PPE & Hand Hygiene
Where every run begins. Hand hygiene and PPE as Standard Precautions — when PPE is necessary, what kind, how to put it on, adjust, wear and take it off, its limitations, and its care. No station unlocks its task until the hands are clean and the PPE fits.
Reference: CDC Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings (2003); OSHA PPE topic page.
B · Chairside — Four-Handed
The operatory station behind Session 2: delivery unit, tray in working order, and the four-handed transfer — clock-face zones, single-handed transfer, the three grasps. The tray challenge sets the exam tray in sequence: mirror → explorer → periodontal probe → cotton pliers → HVE tip → gauze.
Reference: dentalcare.com CE643 (four-handed dentistry); DANB General Chairside (GC) topics.
C · Sterilisation
The reprocessing station behind Session 3: the eight-stage one-way chain, the autoclave and ultrasonic controls, indicator checks, and the fault drill — the wet pack and the missed indicator. A contamination event restarts the load.
Reference: CDC 2003 infection-control guidelines; DANB Infection Control Examination (ICE) topics.
D · School Screening
The outreach station behind Session 1: hall setup, the consent-list check, the class-flow walkthrough, the screening sequence, and the close — charts, flags and log in agreement. Screen → educate → refer; no treatment in the field, no diagnosis by the learner.
Reference: the Zero Cavity workflow as published by Unspoken Smiles (public source); CDC prevention guidance.
E · Virtual Patient
Clearly fictional teaching cases with given findings and consent/anaesthesia states. Every patient scenario follows the ADEA process of care as its spine: Assessment → Dental Hygiene Diagnosis → Planning → Implementation → Evaluation & Documentation. Findings are given — learners never examine and diagnose — and one no-consent case changes the correct first step to stopping.
Reference: ADEA process of care (DH.2) and the ADEA Compendium — a development aid, in its own words “not official policy… nor a mechanism to standardize” programmes.
F · Emergency Drill
Medical emergency basics in the dental office — the assistant's part: recognise the event, take the assigned role, keep the record. Drilled as a sequence with a debrief, like every other station, so the first time a learner runs it is not the real thing.
Reference: the programme's methods library — “Medical emergency basics in the dental office — the assistant's part.”
How every station runs — the seven-step progression
- Prebrief — objectives, criteria, pass thresholds; the fiction contract.
- Guided practice — worked example, then faded guidance.
- Independent practice — repeatable until the criterion is met.
- Varied cases — same skill, different anatomy, pathology or patient.
- Criterion gate — advance only on a scored attempt meeting the threshold.
- Debrief → retry — two strengths, two changes, replay the critical error.
- Spaced revisiting — stations return later; gains fade without reinforcement.
Sources: INACSL Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice; Simodont deliberate-practice model, Dent J 2021; Popov et al. 2025 (multisource feedback + guided facilitation); Wierinck (simulator-only gains faded by 4 months without expert input) — as cited in the simulator's research build (7 Nov 2026).