[Preliminary construction of three-dimensional visual educational system for clinical dentistry based on world wide web webpage].

Objective To establish a new visual educational system of virtual reality for clinical dentistry based on world wide web (WWW) webpage in order to provide more three-dimensional multimedia resources to dental students and an online three-dimensional consulting system for patients. Methods Based on computer graphics and three-dimensional webpage technologies, the software of 3Dsmax and Webmax were adopted in the system development. In the Windows environment, the architecture of whole system was established step by step, including three-dimensional model construction, three-dimensional scene setup, transplanting three-dimensional scene into webpage, reediting the virtual scene, realization of interactions within the webpage, initial test, and necessary adjustment. Results Five cases of three-dimensional interactive webpage for clinical dentistry were completed. The three-dimensional interactive webpage could be accessible through web browser on personal computer, and users could interact with the webpage through rotating, panning and zooming the virtual scene. Conclusions It is technically feasible to implement the visual educational system of virtual reality for clinical dentistry based on WWW webpage. Information related to clinical dentistry can be transmitted properly, visually and interactively through three-dimensional webpage. Key words: Computer communication networks ;  Oral medicine;  Teaching;  Virtual reality