Relative translucency of ceramic systems for porcelain veneers

ii To Gustavo, for his love, patience and support, and for always making me move forward. To my parents, for their unconditional love and encouragement. To all my family and friends, who in one way or another participated in this journey. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my mentor, Dr. Cathia Bergeron, an example as a person and a professional, who I had an immense pleasure to work with. Throughout my thesis project, she guided me to the best path and helped me to take the most appropriate decisions. My sincere thankfulness also goes to my thesis committee which support, encouragement and insightful comments were fundamental to the completion of my work. I would like to deeply thank Dr. Marcos Vargas, my co-mentor in this project, for sharing his phenomenal knowledge in translucency studies and color science with me. Thanks for helping me developing the methodology of my research project and my critical thinking throughout these years. Special thanks go to Dr. Fang Qian for providing excellent and detailed statistical analysis. Thanks for the significant guidance on how to report the results in my thesis and for the suggestions on my presentation. I am also very thankful to Dr. Saulo Geraldeli for his friendship and suggestions in my thesis project, and to Dr. David Gratton for sharing his extensive knowledge in ceramics. Thanks also to Dr. Deborah Cobb, who as program director was always supportive and willing to help not only in my thesis project but also in the entire master program.