Innovating Dental Experiences with AR for Autism
by Serena Ge Guo
The Challenge
For most of us, a trip to the dentist involves a simple routine: walking into the clinic, greeting the dentist, taking a seat, and patiently awaiting the completion of our dental exam. However, for those with severe autism, the experience can be significantly more challenging. Many grapple with sensory processing disorder (SPD) which can make the dental clinic a sensory overload: the clinic's bright lights, the hum of dental instruments, and even the feeling of sitting on a dental chair can be overwhelming.
The organization YAI, who has been dedicated to supporting the intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) community in different ways for decades, seeks to reshape the dental experience for the I/DD community, particularly for those with autism. With the increasing accessibility of AR/VR technology, and its unique capability to enable different interactions within physical spaces, we're confronted with an intriguing challenge: Can mixed reality be the antidote to SPD challenges in current dental settings? Can we envision a new future of dental visits for those with I/DD through the use of AR/VR?
Discovery and Exploration Process
During my time at YAI as a Siegel Family Endowment PiTech PhD Impact Fellow, I was fortunate to collaborate not only with my supervisor at YAI’s Center for Innovation and Engagement, but also with other YAI stakeholders like behavior analysts, occupational therapists, and dentists, who have years of experience and knowledge working with people with autism.
First, I interviewed and sought information from occupational therapists (OT) and dentists to understand their firsthand daily interactions with autistic patients, their difficulties, and their current strategies to help with patients’ dental visits. I discovered their existing desensitizing program for people with autism and learned a range of desensitizing techniques designed to help assuage fears.
Next, I researched the current strategies that have been employed by other research institutes and are available in the market. I categorized them and came up with a framework to understand the problem space from a high-level viewpoint.
Later, after obtaining consent from the patient's caregivers, I participated in and observed several dental visit sessions for those with severe autism across YAI’s Manhattan and Brooklyn clinics. I documented their dental appointment procedures and interviewed the occupational therapists (OTs) after the session, to understand patient behaviors more deeply.
Fig 1. Photos of three stages of a patient’s dental visit sessions.
Serena Ge Guo
The Proposed Solution
In the process, it became evident to me that the primary challenge lay in the patients’ various sensory tolerances of the environmental stimuli. For example, some patients may become highly distressed by the mere sensation of the dental chair's texture beneath them, while others might be particularly startled by the vibration from a dental drill. Therefore, I proposed and prototyped an AR application that could convert tactile feedback into visual and auditory signals, given the autistic community's heightened sensitivity to touch and their comparative ease with visual and sound stimuli.
The design solution is built around three key moments during a patient’s dental visit and the patients’ tactile sensitivity associated with each. The key moments are: A. Walking through the hallway - The sensation of stepping into a narrow corridor with an unknown destination can be unnerving for some. B. Approaching the dental chair - The anticipation of the tactile feeling when sitting down can be a source of anxiety, and C. Interaction with dental tools - Direct touch from dental tools can be quite overwhelming. To address these, in the first-person view in AR/VR, I augmented the surroundings with visual prompts to guide and reassure the patients. When a tactile interaction is imminent, the system offers pleasant visual and auditory distractions, helping divert attention from their tactile apprehensions. The first version of the demo video is here.
Central to the design is giving patients a semblance of control over their environment. This strategy has been proven to be effective in helping those with autism navigate their anxieties. My discussion with various stakeholders at YAI about the design strategy has been uplifting, with many endorsing this direction.
Fig 2. Three key frames of AR Interventions
Impact and Path Forward
My work has provided a perspective on how AR technology might be leveraged to support individuals with IDD during medical visits. After the expert evaluation with behavioral specialists, psychologists, dentists, and occupational therapists, my next step is to test the effectiveness of the design with real users and implement it in a real medical service setting. I will be continuing to collaborate with YAI past the summer to evaluate the design with patients and their caregivers, gather their feedback, and update the design in the coming months.
