Lasting Impressions | Fall 2014

NSU COLLEGE OF DENTAL MEDICINE © 37 In 2010, Marchesan moved to Florida to take a position as an associate professor in the CDM’s Department of Endodontics. To continue teaching, she had to retake her endodontics specialty education in the United States. She received the prestigious American Association of End- odontics Fellowship Award, which allowed her to complete the courses at NSU. She finished in 2013 and is currently teaching and mentoring predoctoral and postgraduate students. She also has been awarded two Presi- dent’s Faculty Research and Development Grants. Marchesan is excited about the possibilities of expanding the research and use of laser technology at the CDM and in the local community. Currently, only a cou- ple of offices in the South Florida area use lasers in dental procedures, she said. “Lasers can’t replace all of the instruments we use,” she said. “They are adjuncts to the techniques we already do. The laser does things that we can’t achieve with regular treatment.” Marchesan is most enthusiastic about explor- ing the use of laser in the future to help children who have experienced a trauma to a permanent tooth that has not yet completely formed. She explained that the college’s on-campus dental clinic is already using one of the most innovative treatments available anywhere—revasculariza- tion technology. The procedure involves stimulating the precur- sor cells from a patient’s blood at the end of the tooth root so that the tooth will continue to grow. The challenge, Marchesan said, is that the new cells struggle to survive with the chemical solu- tions that are currently used in the procedure. That’s where the lasers can help. “The cells need a scaffold, like soil, so that they can grow. They like collagen. With lasers, we can expose collagen on the tooth, which provides a favorable environment for cells to grow in. That’s where the research is going,” Marchesan said. She sees a bright future for the use of lasers in dentistry and plans to keep researching, pre- senting, and teaching about the topic. She hopes to pass on her knowledge and passion to College of Dental Medicine students. “Part of what I would like to do in the future is have a training class in the program so that students can apply the technology and bring it with them to their offices when they graduate,” Marchesan said. In the next two years, she is hoping that her position as president of the North American branch of the WFLD will help bring more of the tools needed to implement laser technology at CDM, establishing the university as a leader in this inno- vative area and providing unique opportunities to help the college’s dental clinic patients. “We could be applying this technology to every- day clinical procedures,” Marchesan said. “And we could be helping children by using it on premature, traumatized teeth. The future is vast and practically limitless in how we apply this technology.” u Melissa Marchesan has dedicated more than 17 years to researching, writing, teaching, and speaking about how lasers can be used in root canals and other dental procedures.