Minimum intervention in orthodontics.

Minimum intervention is defined as the smallest value or number of interruptions. Intervention is defined as an action intended for a challenging situation to improve it or to prevent it from getting worse. This article defines what constitutes 'minimum intervention' in dentistry and specifically in orthodontics. It presents the clinical techniques that constitute the specialty of orthodontics and identifies the ones that are deemed as minimum interventions. This article also presents the scientific evidence backing several orthodontic techniques, rendering them acceptable by the profession over others with no or very poor scientific evidence, thus increasing the chances of suboptimal outcomes.