## 1 Introduction  
The evolution of medical knowledge and technology has allowed people to live longer with fewer tooth losses, leading to an increasing need for partial oral rehabilitation [1]. Replacement of missing teeth and their attached structures is fundamental to restoring masticatory and phonetic functions, as well as aesthetics [2]. Despite the advantages of fixed prosthodntics, physiological, anatomical, and financial reasons make their application unfeasible [3]. Thus, removable partial dentures (RPDs) emerge as an alternative with a significant clinical impact, improving patients' quality of life [4].  
The basic concepts of RPD framework design have been widely accepted for over 50 years [5]. Traditionally, the metal frameworks are produced by the lost-wax casting technique, which involves a series of demanding technical procedures even for experienced dental laboratory technicians [6, 7]. This conventional protocol initiates with a clinical impression, followed by laboratory steps, including diagnostic cast production and surveying, refractory cast acquisition, waxing, casting, metal framework fabrication, and finishing [8]. Cobalt-chromium is usually the metal alloy used due to its good biocompatibility, appropriate wear and corrosion resistance, high fatigue strength, and low cost [7, 9, 10, 11, 12]. Titanium can also be used, but, despite the advantages of lower weight and lower modulus of elasticity, it has the disadvantage of lower yield strength [13, 14, 15]. Due to the complexity of conventional RPD production, many possible sources of errors may compromise the framework's strength, and functionality, and patient comfort [8, 16, 17]. Among various studies that assessed production errors, [PERSON] and colleagues reviewed and categorized a total of 243 errors [18, 19, 20].  
A correct fit to the oral cavity is crucial for the success of the rehabilitation treatment [21]. However, in previous studies, the conventional lost-wax technique generated poor fit in a third of the metal frameworks produced, and almost half of them with gaps of up to 500 \(\upmu\)m between the framework clasps and the abutment teeth [18; 21; 22; 23].  
Since the 1970s, digital techniques have been used in various areas of biomedicine, with significant advantages such as reduced labor cost and time, more predictable and reproducible results, and the potential to increase structural accuracy in human tissues [24; 25; 26; 27; 28]. To overcome the limitations of conventional RPD production, researchers began to apply not only computer-aided design (CAD) with RPD software but also computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) techniques and materials for the RPD metal framework production [4; 29; 30]. It is increasingly popular to adapt digital procedures for RPD metal framework production, combining digital and conventional techniques [31; 32]. Nevertheless, digital techniques' contribution to RPD metal framework production needs to be clarified in the recent scientific literature. Also, robust evidence-based scientific knowledge of digitally produced metal frameworks' fit accuracy to the oral structures is scarce.  
This article aimed to systematically review and organize the literature on the RPD metal framework production using digital techniques to ascertain the most frequently researched production protocols, characterize the methodologies of fit accuracy results, and systematize the evolution of the related research trends.