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1. Introduction
Dental prosthetics is the branch of dentistry that deals with the replacement of lost or absent dental and gingival structures in order to restore patients' form, function, aesthetics and oral health. It also offers advance training in the handling of complicated dental procedures (Yu et al., 2013).
The dental prosthetics – or prosthodontics – sector has changed over time as a result of regulations and technological innovations (Balshi et al., 2007; Bassi et al., 2013; Jonathan et al., 2014). It is estimated that billions of dollars are expended on prosthodontics care worldwide (cf. Bassi et al., 2013), which justifies, in part, the importance of this industry to countries' economies. The importance of this sector is further justified by a wide range of different reasons, such as: (1) the absence of dental structures has serious consequences, for people's physical and mental health (Reissmann et al., 2011), primarily because the chewing capability is compromised, contributing to an alteration of feeding habits and the avoidance of the ingestion of foods that are nutritionally important; (2) from a psychological point of view, interpersonal relationships are affected (Reisine et al., 1989), promoting the isolation of people who suffer from a lack of teeth; and (3) from a social point of view, the search for a job, for example, is also conditioned by the lack of appearance and care represented by the absence of teeth. In this sense, daily oral hygiene practices are advised and should be widely implemented with the aim of contributing to good health and delaying, as much as possible, the early loss of teeth (Nakano et al., 2008).
In this context, the need to recognize dental technicians as key members of oral health teams has never been more evident. In addition, patients are now better informed about both available prosthetic options and the healthcare services they receive, reinforcing the need for cooperation between the health professionals involved (Habbal, 2011). Currently, individuals are increasingly concerned about both looking good and quality of life (Nakano et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2013; Anwar et al., 2015), so any rehabilitation of lost dental structures needs to take into account all assessment criteria that lead to good...