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Planmeca revolutionises dental education with simulation units

Prof. Cristina Bica and guests at the official opening of the renewed dental medicine simulation centre in December 2020. (Image: Faculty of Dentistry, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureş)

Thu. 18. February 2021

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HELSINKI, Finland/TÂRGU MUREŞ, Romania: The first fully digital Planmeca dental treatment simulation units were installed at the George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureş in September 2020. In order to offer its students the possibility of combining case studies with real clinical data, the university decided to invest in Planmeca state-of-the-art equipment. Today, the faculty staff is proud of having the most modern simulation centre in the country for the university’s 900 currently enrolled dental students.

The clinical activities of the dental faculty at the university take place in a facility called the Integrated Dental Center (IDC). It consists of modular amphitheatres, teaching laboratories and an extensive clinical training area, equipped with 84 dental units and a recently renewed simulation centre. The IDC incorporates the latest technology in dental radiology, including a Planmeca ProMax 3D imaging unit, in order to offer the patients modern yet affordable imaging services.

Prof. Cristina Bica, the dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, explained in a press statement: “As we started planning the renewal of our dental medicine simulation centre, our goal was to optimise the teaching activities and enhance our students’ practical skills. We wanted to put together a generous and modern teaching area by rehabilitating and upgrading the existing yet conventional simulation department. Our main goal was to purchase the most modern dental simulation equipment that can offer the students the possibility to combine case studies with real clinical data.”

The dental medicine simulation centre is equipped with Planmeca dental simulation units. (Image: Faculty of Dentistry, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureş)

Planmeca as a competent partner

According to Prof. Bica, the requirements for the university environment are constantly expanding. Today, the learning environment must support the development of students’ practical skills. Therefore, the university consulted Dexellence, Planmeca’s local distributor in Romania, in order to find the most suitable options for its needs. For the past seven years, Dexellence has worked with more than 300 dental clinics and, recently, also with dental universities. The company specialises in delivering high-end dentistry equipment as well as in providing design and construction solutions for dental clinics, and Planmeca is one of its main partners.

“Together with the team of the Faculty of Dentistry in Târgu Mureş, we discussed possible applications and configurations of the Planmeca simulators in order to maximise their potential and to offer the students and faculty teaching staff numerous possibilities for dental education,” said Dr Cristina Rizea, co-founder and general manager of Dexellence.

The project was completed within seven months, the initial discussions taking place in January 2020, and both the installation and the training of faculty staff having been performed before September. The official opening of the simulation centre took place at the beginning of December 2020.

The installed simulators include intra-oral cameras and the Planmeca PlanID sign-in system, so that each dental student using the simulator can login and access his or her personalised settings. With the Planmeca PlanID system, reports of simulator utilisation can also be easily and quickly obtained.

Contribution to dental education in Romania

Planmeca offers fully digital, customisable and integrated solutions for the varying needs of dental schools around the world. The IDC project was the first in Romania and also the first for Dexellence.

“It was truly an honour for us to take part in this innovative project, and really a pleasure to collaborate with the open-minded team of Târgu Mureş university,” Dr Rizea said.

In the future, Dexellence plans to contribute towards enhancing dental education in Romania by implementing Planmeca dental education solutions in other dental faculties around the country as well.

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