Dental cutting is a crucial skill for dental students. However, current VR dental cutting training systems rely on bulky and costly haptic devices, which reduce opportunities for individual practice. Moreover, the limitations imposed by the maximum reaction force of an active haptic device would impact the range of tooth hardness that can be reproduced. We propose a compact XR tooth-cutting training system, VirtuEleDent, that employs a passive haptic approach using a 3D-printed physical teeth model and a three-dimensionally tracked handpiece. Their spatial relationship is accurately rendered in the virtual environment of a mobile head-mounted display (HMD), providing users with realistic haptic sensations during virtual tooth-cutting exercises. Our tracking platform is operated using electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus technology and consists of a digitizer (i.e., tracking board) and a handpiece device. A customized EMR stylus unit (i.e., resonance coil) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor are installed inside the handpiece, allowing for precise measurement of its tip's 3D position and orientation. This setup enables the learner to physically manipulate dexterous handpieces on the teeth model while experiencing virtual tooth-cutting in the HMD.

We presented a paper at a top virtual reality conference "IEEE Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces", held at Saint-Malo, France, March 2025, and also demonstrated our prototype system there. And we received the Honorable Mention Best Research Demo Award.

Demo Movie: https://youtu.be/ZvHZ6IEAhyM

This research is the result of a joint research project between the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, the Graduate School of Dentistry, Tohoku University, Shibaura Institute of Technology, and Wacom Co.