Expert consensus document on minimum intervention oral care

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 24. July 2026

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LUCERNE, Switzerland: Minimum intervention oral care (MIOC) represents a shift from a predominantly operative and procedure-centred model towards a person-centred approach to oral healthcare that emphasises prevention and the preservation of tooth structure. However, despite the scientific evidence supporting MIOC, it has yet to be consistently integrated into routine clinical practice. An international expert consensus published in June has set out evidence-informed recommendations to address this gap and support its wider implementation.

Developed through an expert consensus workshop held in December last year in Munich in Germany with the support of the International Society for Minimum Intervention Dentistry, the recommendations cover clinical practice, education, workforce organisation and healthcare system design. They highlight the need for coordinated action across clinical, educational and system-level settings.

The document is intended to provide decision makers across oral healthcare with an implementation agenda for MIOC. Its 14 recommendations were developed through a structured, evidence-informed consensus process involving 16 experts. Before the meeting, the organisers defined four domains central to understanding and addressing barriers to MIOC implementation and prepared narrative summaries of the available evidence for each. During the workshop, participants reviewed draft recommendations prepared by the steering group, refined and combined them into the final recommendations, and then voted on them anonymously. Consensus was defined in advance as at least 75% agreement.

The resulting guidance recommends MIOC as the default standard of care and addresses healthcare system and remuneration reform, team-based working, education and professional culture, and the responsible use of digital tools and artificial intelligence. Rather than offering a disease-specific clinical guideline, the document provides coordinated principles for translating established evidence into routine care.

Titled “Minimum intervention oral care (MIOC)—overcoming implementation barriers: An international expert consensus”, the publication provides a practical framework for advancing preventive, minimally invasive and person-centred care. It also underlines the importance of aligning reimbursement systems, quality indicators, coding structures and digital infrastructures with care pathways that support prevention, diagnosis, active surveillance and long-term maintenance. This work marks an important step in advancing MIOC as a structured approach for improving oral healthcare delivery and supporting more sustainable, evidence-based dentistry. Clinicians are encouraged to access the publication to explore the recommendations and their implications for clinical practice, education and healthcare systems.

Topics:

General Dentistry

Tags:

Clinical consensus documents Conservative dentistry Dental education International Society for Minimum Intervention Dentistry Minimum intervention Prevention

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