The acquisition and validation of removable partial denture design knowledge .1. Methodology and overview

The authors report on the eliciting of the partial denture design expertise of teachers of prosthetic dentistry. Their approach was to identify 125 design rules and then to sample expert reaction by surveying 10 experts individually and by surveying the prosthetic departments in all 17 dental schools in the British Isles. The surveys achieved a return of 100% and revealed an unsuspected consensus concerning the rules. A majority of schools were in agreement on whether or not III (89%) of the rules could be supported. This design expertise will be disseminated through RaPiD, a knowledge-based assistant for the design of removable partial dentures. It is expected that by incorporating into this design assistant rules which have been shown to be widely supported, the acceptability and usefulness of RaPiD for clinical education and practice will be increased.