Dream Dental Is a New Interactive Virtual Reality Platform for Dental Patients from Paperplane Therapeutics

With its Dream Dental virtual reality (VR) solution, Paperplane Therapeutics is aiming to help dental practices increase efficiency by decreasing disruptions caused by dental patients and their anxiety about dental treatment.

The Dream Dental platform was developed with the needs of dental practitioners in mind. Patients wear a VR headset and are immersed in a game or series of puzzles that keep the patient focused on the virtual environment rather than the discomfort or fear they might feel about their dental care. While most VR environments put a viewer in a 3-dimensional space that changes when the viewer’s head turns, dental patients need to remain still during treatment, and the Dream Dental platform is designed so that when the patient’s head moves, the virtual environment narrows in until the motion is stopped. With this system patients quickly learn to keep still to ensure an uninterrupted VR experience, according to representatives from Paperplane Therapeutics.

Clinicians can control the experience being shown in the VR headset from an iPad, and can see on the screen what the patient is looking at. This allows the clinician to quickly set up the VR experience for a patient, and ensure that everything is working properly. The Dream Dental VR headset includes audio from the virtual environment, but patients can clearly hear instructions from the clinician while wearing the headset. Additionally, a camera built into the headset allows patients to view and speak with clinicians without having to remove or adjust the headset. This allows the patient to wear the headset comfortably throughout the entire appointment.

The Dream Dental platform is designed with pediatric patients in mind, and the VR games are played with a handheld control as well as software to track eye movements within the VR headset. This allows the wearer to interact with the virtual environment to solve puzzles or clear a game level while remaining still for the patient.