Dalhousie researcher wins award for dentistry innovation
Posted Dec 3, 2022 05:44:00 PM.
Brazilian researcher Cristiane Maucoski is being celebrated for her work at Dalhousie University—research to help patients spend less time getting a filling at the dentist office.
Maucoski won the international Mitacs Award for Outstanding Innovation for this research.
It focused on a new kind of light, a Valo X curing light, which will speed up the process of hardening or curing fillings.
“Dentists rely on this research to tell them if a filling is going to be properly cured,” Maucoski told CityNews Halifax.
“If a filling is not properly cured it can lead to the patient's pain, tooth decay, it breaks down faster, and in addition to that, a lot of chemicals can leach into the body of the patient,” she explains.
Maucoski’s research helps dentists understand the Valo X curing light, which helps patients avoid lengthy waits as their fillings dry, and uncomfortable trips back to the dentist.
Maucoski came to Nova Scotia from Brazil to do research at Dalhousie as a Mitacs intern. Mitacs is a not-for-profit organization that solves business challenges with academic research in Canada.
The Mitacs award is presented to an Mitacs intern who made a significant research development.
“All of this was possible because of Mitacs and Dalhousie University, I'm very grateful for all.”
Maucoski is now pursuing a PhD on dentistry research.