Dr. Manish Chhabra spent years running a digital design center in India, working with dental labs across the U.S. and Europe, before turning his attention to a different problem: how new dental professionals actually learn clinical procedures.
His answer became DGA Dental, also known as Digident Global Academy, a virtual reality training platform built to give new hires a risk-free space to practice before they ever touch a real patient.
In this episode of The DrBicuspid.com Podcast, host Kevin Henry talks with Dr. Chhabra, the company's co-founder and CEO, about what pushed him toward VR specifically. Traditional training options, he explains, tend to fall into two camps: in-person, hands-on courses that are hard to scale or online video and reading that offer no real interaction.
VR, Chhabra says, splits the difference, letting a new hygienist, assistant, or dentist repeat a procedure 15 or 20 times on their own schedule until it clicks, all while facing high staff turnover rates that can run 35% to 40% in some dental service organizations (DSOs).
Chhabra also pushes back on the idea that VR is only for beginners. Experienced dentists use it too, particularly when adopting newer workflows like digital dentures or building confidence before a first implant procedure. He describes built-in feedback systems that score a trainee's adherence to procedural steps and even track hand movement accuracy during tasks like scanning, giving users real-time correction similar to an instructor looking over their shoulder.
VR isn't meant to replace hands-on training entirely. Chhabra frames the technology as a supplemental tool, one that can be used either before an in-person course to prime new learners or after one to reinforce retention when a matching patient case doesn't come along for weeks or months. Trainees who complete a procedure virtually 25 times, Chhabra estimates, are roughly 80% ready when they meet their first real patient. Additionally, trainees are more adept at handling real-world complexities like saliva and soft-tissue management that VR can't fully replicate.
The conversation also touches on where the technology is headed, including a new multiplayer feature letting trainers and trainees from different countries join the same virtual training session, and how DGA customizes its training libraries for individual DSOs and universities rather than offering a one-size-fits-all product.
Chhabra can be reached at dgadental.com or by emailing [email protected].
Listen to the full conversation below.
