Social media are part of the fabric of today's world, from which health care is not excluded. Based on its distribution capacity, a single individual can cause an amount of damage to an institution that only a few decades ago required access to a mainstream news media outlet. Despite the obvious parallels in professional standards in the medical and dental communities, the scholarly activity and resulting collegial discourse observed among medical professionals remain unmatched in the dental education literature. As a result, a rigorous research agenda on the topic is indicated. Once these results are evaluated and thoroughly vetted, actions should be tailored to address the needs, minimize the threats, and maximize the opportunities that have been already noted by the medical profession. Regardless of input, albeit internal or external, a cadre of individuals who are willing to develop philosophy, policy, and procedure related to the use of social media policies in dental education can then be identiied to

Identifying and implementing effective methods for assessing dental student performance are ongoing challenges for dental educators. Questions related to grading and assessment are common among faculty and students alike. Faculty members who are well-trained clinicians or scientists often have little formal training in education. In addition, assessment of performance brings with it an element of subjectivity. Questions about assessment and grading are most likely to arise when expectations are unclear or the rationale for the grade awarded is not articulated. The authors propose that one solution to assessment dilemmas can be found in the use of rubrics: scaled tools with levels of achievement and clearly deined criteria placed in a grid. Rubrics establish clear rules for evaluation and deine the criteria for performance. Rubrics speak to both teaching and learning expectations and outcomes and can provide faculty members with a tool that can be useful in evaluating dental student performance. Rubrics can also provide students with clear expectations of performance, an opportunity to self-assess, and timely, detailed feedback. The purpose of this article is to deine a rubric, apply the steps of rubric development as described in the educational literature to dental student assessment, present two examples of rubric implementation for assessing student progress toward competence, and recommend electronic resources for rubric development.Dr. O'Donnell is Associate Dean,

Most of the studies on genetic variation contributing to TMD are approaching the disease mainly from an immune-inflammatory perspective. Recent investigations of the genetic variables which may predict identifiable levels of pain perception may uncover new approaches to our traditional treatment modalities for the chronic pain patient.

Each year, dental schools struggle to do more with less-a reality that is confounded by dental faculty shortages and retention issues reported over the past 15 years. In today's academic environment, faculty shortages suggest that the resulting smaller faculty population will be tasked with more responsibilities than those who had the benefit of working with a full complement of colleagues. Fewer clinical faculty will likely participate in scholarly activity-in some instances, negatively affecting their chances for promotion and tenure, and ultimately lessening their own job security and feeling of accomplishment and self-worth in the academic environment. New faculty are in need of a formal program endorsed by their administration-one which places them with colleagues experienced in scholarly activity. This program, to include a definitive reward structure for mentors, would likely foster the retention and promotion of faculty and encourage the development of future leaders of dental education. Without a definitive plan, the clinical scholar will become an endangered species, and the research innovations and discovery of our profession will fall short in addressing the needs of the public's oral and systemic health.

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