State of the art technology is transforming dentistry services

A mixed reality headset - Microsoft HoloLens 2 – has been introduced in community dentistry services across Morecambe Bay to support patients with learning and physical disabilities who require a specialist consultation or can only be examined under general anaesthetic.

A patient would attend their local dental practice where they would have an examination from a dental practitioner wearing the HoloLens headset. The headset links to a Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app which uses Microsoft Teams to send a secure live feed to a computer screen. This means a consultant/specialist can join the appointment remotely and assess the patient through the eyes of the dental practitioner, giving specialist advice and support.

Dr Alan Gowans, Consultant Orthodontics Surgeon at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), said: “The HoloLens is a perfect fit and is the technology we need to help bring dentistry forward. We have used the HoloLens with around 40 patients and feedback has been positive – everyone loves it.

“By introducing HoloLens, we are bringing the consultation to the patient rather than the patient coming to the consultation. This cuts down travel time and associated costs for the patient and their family/carer and means they do not have to miss a day’s school or work to attend a separate consultation.”

Dr Gowans added: “Patients are pre-selected based on treatment/examinations required for the virtual HoloLens clinics. Consultants/specialists will then be able to meet with several patients throughout their working day through these virtual clinics without having to travel from site to site or through separate appointments. They also allow for emergency consultations and unplanned specialist support.

“There are educational and training benefits for staff, complete and utter understanding of treatment planning and a two-way dialogue between the dental practitioner and the consultant/ specialist, vertical integrated pathways meaning the patient is treated locally, by the right people and has the right clinical support.”

Teams are trained to use the HoloLens by the Trust’s Electronic Patient Record (EPR) Training team. This training shows users how they can use hand gestures and voice commands whilst wearing the device to access applications and manipulate holograms. Group sessions have been used to familiarise users and to make them comfortable wearing the devices like they would a hat or glasses.

The HoloLens headsets were first piloted on the respiratory wards at UHMBT and at Kendal Care Home during the Covid pandemic. The Trust’s post-graduate team are using HoloLens devices to create new innovative ways of teaching using HoloPatient and HoloAnatomy®. You can find out more about HoloPatient here https://www.gigxr.com/holopatient/ and HoloAnatomy® here https://case.edu/holoanatomy/ 

More information about HoloLens can be found at the following website https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens