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The scarcity of full-time clinical faculty members in dental schools across the country is a major crisis confronting dentistry. Dental schools are experiencing critical faculty shortages and are struggling to maintain appropriate faculty to student ratios. The adage of "doing more with less" applies, in many ways, to dental schools and their mission of educating future dentists. Solutions to the problem have included plans to recruit, develop, and mentor faculty members. However, progress has been slow. Dental schools have created incentive programs to help with faculty shortages and develop future educators in dentistry. This requires commitment and resources and will take years before these efforts and their impact can be assessed. Creative solutions need to be developed both nationally and locally to reverse the trend more rapidly.Dr. John is Chairman,

Objectives. To compare the ability of endodontists to determine the size of apical pathological lesions and select the most appropriate choice of treatment based on lesions' projected image characteristics using 2 D and 3 D images. Study Design. Twenty-four subjects were selected. Radiographic examination of symptomatic study teeth with an intraoral periapical radiograph revealed periapical lesions equal to or greater than 3 mm in the greatest diameter. Cone-beam Computed tomography (CBCT) images were made of the involved teeth after the intraoral periapical radiograph confirmed the size of lesion to be equal to greater than 3 mm. Six observers (endodontists) viewed both the periapical and CBCT images. Upon viewing each of the images from the two imaging modalities, observers (1) measured lesion size and (2) made decisions on treatment based on each radiograph. Chi-square test was used to look for differences in the choice of treatment among observers. Results. No significant difference was noted in the treatment plan selected by observers using the two modalities (χ 2(3) = .036, P > 0.05). Conclusion. Lesion size and choice of treatment of periapical lesions based on CBCT radiographs do not change significantly from those made on the basis of 2 D radiographs.

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