Dentists of the future will be able to practise their skills using virtual reality patients at Nottinghamshire's King's Mill Hospital.

The postgraduate dental training suite at the hospital, run by Sherwood Forest Hospitals (SFH) NHS Foundation Trust, is the first postgraduate institute in the country to use the Moog Simodont dental trainer.

The Simodont offers a high-resolution three-dimensional image combined with a dentist's drill handpiece that has highly realistic computer controlled feedback so that students get a realistic sensation and an exact feeling of the objects and materials they are working on. Trainees can now improve skills and techniques before they move on to the real thing.

SFH, in partnership with Health Education England – East Midlands, is investing £120,000 in three simulators as part of plans to establish the East Midlands as a centre of excellence for simulated dental training.

Up to 70 postgraduate dentists a year are expected to practise their basic techniques using the technology, along with up to 30 more experienced dentists wishing to refresh individual skills or dentists returning to practice after a career break.

Postgraduate Dental Dean, Andrew Dickenson, said the range of procedures and treatments available will increase as the simulator technology grows. 'Drilling away decay, filling cavities, root canal work and building up chipped and broken teeth will build into more complex cases as training modules are added. Moog will develop more and more scenarios in conjunction with SFH that will be shared around the world.'

The three simulators will add to the existing skills lab at King's Mill Hospital, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.