Use of virtual reality as a learning environment in dentistry.

Second Life (SL) is an online virtual world with a social environment that may serve as a valuable learning supplement to traditional preclinical teaching methods. The educational advantages of this virtual world include immersion and interactivity. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of using 3-dimensional interactive platforms (3DIPs) designed in SL to that of traditional teaching methods for developing students' understanding of dental clinical situations that are difficult to simulate in real life.