Is D8060 still a valid dental code?

No. D8060, interceptive orthodontic treatment of the transitional dentition, was deleted effective January 1, 2022. The ADA removed the entire interceptive orthodontic treatment subcategory in CDT 2022, including its heading, its descriptor, and both codes in it, D8050 and D8060. A claim submitted under D8060 on a date of service from January 1, 2022 forward will reject as an invalid or deleted code. If your practice management software still lists D8060, deactivate it so it can't be selected out of habit.

The limited orthodontic treatment codes. The ADA's instruction when it deleted the interceptive subcategory was to report those cases under the applicable limited code: D8010 (primary dentition), D8020 (transitional dentition), D8030 (adolescent dentition), or D8040 (adult dentition). Since D8060 covered the transitional dentition, the mixed stage where primary and permanent teeth are both present, the usual replacement is D8020. Pick by the dentition stage the dentist documents. If the case is actually full correction of the malocclusion rather than a narrow objective, it is comprehensive treatment instead, which for the transitional dentition is D8070.

Why did the ADA delete D8050 and D8060?

Because nobody could reliably tell an interceptive case from a limited one. The procedures reported as interceptive were clinically much the same as limited orthodontic treatment, and AAO members surveyed named deciding between limited and interceptive as one of their top coding problems. Rather than keep two subcategories separated by a line that didn't hold up in practice, the ADA deleted the interceptive subcategory and revised the limited orthodontic treatment descriptor to cover treatment with a limited objective or scale at any stage of dental development. The change took effect January 1, 2022.

A payer still lists D8060 on our fee schedule. Should we bill it?

No. Bill the current code and fix the fee schedule separately. Some carriers and state Medicaid programs were slow to update their adjudication systems after the CDT 2022 change, and the AAO raised that directly with payers and with the National Association of Dental Plans. A stale entry in a payer's table is not authorization to use a deleted code, and it will not protect the claim on audit. File the correct limited code, and if the payer rejects it or pays it at a rate that looks like the old interceptive fee, work it as a payer-side error with the CDT 2022 change list attached. If a claim already rejected because you sent D8060, correct the code and resubmit. There is nothing to appeal, since the code did not exist on that date of service.

Our ortho case was banded in 2021 under D8060 and continued into 2022. What happens to the continuation claims?

The original claim keeps its original code. D8060 was valid through December 31, 2021, so the banding claim on a 2021 date of service was correct and should not be restated. The continuation and periodic visit claims carry their own dates of service, so anything dated January 1, 2022 or later has to use a current code. Code each claim to the CDT version in effect on that claim's date of service, and expect the payer's records for the case to show two different codes across its life. Note the banding date and the original code in the remarks so the continuation claims reconcile against the case the payer already has open.

What was the difference between interceptive and limited orthodontic treatment?

Interceptive treatment was framed around timing and intent: intervening early, while the patient was still growing, to head off a developing problem or reduce how much treatment would be needed later. Limited treatment was framed around scope: correcting one defined problem instead of the whole bite. In the chart those two descriptions land on the same cases most of the time, which is why the distinction collapsed. The current codebook keeps only the scope axis. Treatment with a narrow objective is limited, D8010 through D8040 by dentition stage. Treatment that corrects the full malocclusion is comprehensive, D8070 through D8090.

D8060 Dental Code: Deleted in 2022, What to Bill Instead

D8060 was the CDT code for interceptive orthodontic treatment of the transitional dentition, an early-intervention ortho case in a patient with a mix of primary and permanent teeth. The ADA deleted it effective January 1, 2022, so it is no longer billable.

A claim filed under D8060 on a current date of service rejects as an invalid code, and has done since January 1, 2022. The code still turns up though, on old EOBs, in payer code tables nobody cleaned out, and in practice management software that kept the pick list it shipped with. What you bill now is one of the limited orthodontic codes, D8010 through D8040, chosen by the patient's dentition stage. For the transitional dentition D8060 used to cover, that is D8020.

On this page

What D8060 used to report
Why the ADA deleted it
What to bill instead, and how to choose
When a payer or a code table still has D8060 in it
What to get right in your PMS
FAQs

What D8060 used to report

D8060 reported interceptive orthodontic treatment of the transitional dentition.

The transitional dentition is the mixed stage, where a patient still has some primary (baby) teeth alongside erupting permanent teeth. Its sibling code, D8050, covered the same kind of treatment one stage earlier, in the primary dentition. Those two codes were the entire interceptive subcategory.

Interceptive meant early intervention. The idea was treatment delivered while the patient was still growing, aimed at a problem that was developing rather than finished, to redirect it or to cut down how much treatment would be needed once the permanent teeth came in. A crossbite corrected before it entrenched, an arch given room before crowding set, a habit appliance placed while the habit was still shaping the bite. In billing terms, D8060 was the usual code for a phase-one case in a mixed dentition.

Why the ADA deleted it

The interceptive codes and the limited codes described the same cases, and no one could draw a line between them that held up.

Limited orthodontic treatment is defined by scope: a narrow objective, one defined problem, rather than full correction of the bite. Interceptive treatment was defined by timing and intent: early, growth-related, preventive of later work. Those are different framings, but in a real chart they land on the same patient. A phase-one crossbite correction in a nine-year-old is limited in scope and interceptive in timing at the same time. Billers and orthodontists had to guess which subcategory the payer wanted, and AAO members surveyed named deciding between limited and interceptive as one of their top three problems with the code.

For CDT 2022 the ADA resolved it with two changes that took effect together on January 1, 2022. It deleted the interceptive orthodontic treatment subcategory outright, the heading, the descriptor, and both codes, D8050 and D8060. In the same change it revised the limited orthodontic treatment descriptor so limited covers treatment with a limited objective or scale, at any stage of dental development. The rewritten language lists examples of a limited objective, and two of them describe exactly the old interceptive case: one phase of a multi-phase treatment, and treatment delivered before the permanent teeth are in. The descriptor was rewritten to cover those cases directly, so a former D8060 case belongs in the limited family on its own terms.

The result is one axis instead of two. Scope decides the code and the dentition stage decides which code within the family. Timing is no longer a coding axis.

The same CDT 2022 change also deleted D8690, the old alternative-billing-to-a-contract-fee code, so an ortho code table that still has D8060 in it very likely has D8690 in it too.

What to bill instead, and how to choose

The ADA’s own instruction on the deletion was to report former interceptive cases under the applicable limited orthodontic treatment code. Those are:

D8010 for the primary dentition (all baby teeth).
D8020 for the transitional dentition (mixed primary and permanent).
D8030 for the adolescent dentition (permanent teeth essentially in).
D8040 for the adult dentition.

Before either question, confirm the appliance was moving teeth. A habit appliance is appliance therapy, D8210 or D8220, and an appliance holding space after early loss of a primary tooth is a space maintainer in the preventive series, not orthodontics. The D8050 page works through that split in detail.

Two questions decide the code, in this order.

First, is the scope limited or comprehensive? Limited treatment has a narrow objective: one defined problem, not the whole dentition. Comprehensive treatment corrects the full malocclusion across both arches as a complete course of care. The descriptor names a phase-one case as an example of a limited objective, so most old D8060 cases land in the limited family without argument. The exception is real though: an early case that takes on the full malocclusion across both arches is comprehensive in scope even in a mixed dentition, and that is D8070. Read the treatment plan rather than assuming early means small.

Second, what dentition stage did the dentist document? That picks the code within the family. The split is what is actually in the mouth, not the patient’s chronological age. A former D8060 case is transitional by definition, so it maps to D8020, but confirm it against the records rather than assuming, because a case that started as early treatment can reach banding after the patient has moved into the adolescent dentition.

One more thing the AAO clarified when the change landed: the orthodontic treatment codes may be reported more than once for a patient when the circumstances warrant, including using a comprehensive code for a phase one and again for a phase two. Whether a plan pays twice is a separate question, and a plan-dependent one, but the codebook does not forbid it. Under the old scheme an interceptive code was often used partly to signal “this is the first of two phases.” That signal now belongs in the narrative and the records, not in the code.

When a payer or a code table still has D8060 in it

This is the part that costs offices money, and it is still happening.

The AAO documented that after the CDT 2022 change some dental carriers and state Medicaid offices failed to adjust their adjudication and claims payment properly, and the AAO took it up with payers directly and with the National Association of Dental Plans. Several state Medicaid programs published their own deleted-code notices mapping D8050 and D8060 to replacement codes, which tells you how much cleanup the change actually required on the payer side.

Years later, the residue is still around in three places:

A payer fee schedule or provider portal that still lists D8060. A stale entry in a payer’s table does not make the code billable. Bill the current limited code. If the claim then rejects, or pays at what looks like the old interceptive rate, work it as a payer-side error and cite the CDT 2022 change list in the appeal.
A benefit quote or pre-authorization written against the old code. A pre-auth approving D8060 was an approval of the treatment. Whether the payer’s system will honor it against a different code string is a separate question and a plan-dependent one, so confirm in writing which current code the approval maps to before you file. Note the reference on the account. This is where a phase-one case quietly loses its approval.
Old EOBs and ledgers. A 2021 EOB showing D8060 paid is correct history. Do not restate it. When a patient transfers in mid-treatment and the prior EOBs show D8060, that history is still your proof of what the previous plan paid, and it belongs in the Box 35 remarks along with the original banding date. See the orthodontic insurance billing guide for how work-in-progress and takeover claims are worded.

Carrier behavior here varies by plan and by state program, so verify the specific payer’s current position rather than assuming either that they have cleaned up or that they have not.

What to get right in your PMS

Deactivate D8060 and D8050 in the code table, rather than relabeling them. On any date of service from 2022 forward they reject, and a code that is still selectable will eventually get selected. While you are in there, check for D8690, deleted in the same change.
Point the old phase-one workflow at the limited codes. Any macro, favorite, or treatment-plan template that used to drop in D8060 should now drop in the limited code for the documented dentition stage, usually D8020.
Keep the four limited stage codes separate and labeled. D8010, D8020, D8030, and D8040 differ only by dentition stage, so a clear pick list is what keeps the staging a deliberate choice.
Do not let “early” default to “limited.” Keep the comprehensive codes, D8070 and up, just as visible. An early case can be comprehensive in scope, and the deleted interceptive framing trained people out of checking.
Audit your payer plan records for stale ortho codes. If a plan’s stored fee schedule in your system still carries D8060, the estimates it produces are built on a code that cannot be billed. Fix the stored plan record itself so the next estimate comes out right.

FAQs

Is D8060 still a valid dental code?: No. D8060, interceptive orthodontic treatment of the transitional dentition, was deleted effective January 1, 2022. The ADA removed the entire interceptive orthodontic treatment subcategory in CDT 2022, including its heading, its descriptor, and both codes in it, D8050 and D8060. A claim submitted under D8060 on a date of service from January 1, 2022 forward will reject as an invalid or deleted code. If your practice management software still lists D8060, deactivate it so it can't be selected out of habit.
What replaced D8060?: The limited orthodontic treatment codes. The ADA's instruction when it deleted the interceptive subcategory was to report those cases under the applicable limited code: D8010 (primary dentition), D8020 (transitional dentition), D8030 (adolescent dentition), or D8040 (adult dentition). Since D8060 covered the transitional dentition, the mixed stage where primary and permanent teeth are both present, the usual replacement is D8020. Pick by the dentition stage the dentist documents. If the case is actually full correction of the malocclusion rather than a narrow objective, it is comprehensive treatment instead, which for the transitional dentition is D8070.
Why did the ADA delete D8050 and D8060?: Because nobody could reliably tell an interceptive case from a limited one. The procedures reported as interceptive were clinically much the same as limited orthodontic treatment, and AAO members surveyed named deciding between limited and interceptive as one of their top coding problems. Rather than keep two subcategories separated by a line that didn't hold up in practice, the ADA deleted the interceptive subcategory and revised the limited orthodontic treatment descriptor to cover treatment with a limited objective or scale at any stage of dental development. The change took effect January 1, 2022.
A payer still lists D8060 on our fee schedule. Should we bill it?: No. Bill the current code and fix the fee schedule separately. Some carriers and state Medicaid programs were slow to update their adjudication systems after the CDT 2022 change, and the AAO raised that directly with payers and with the National Association of Dental Plans. A stale entry in a payer's table is not authorization to use a deleted code, and it will not protect the claim on audit. File the correct limited code, and if the payer rejects it or pays it at a rate that looks like the old interceptive fee, work it as a payer-side error with the CDT 2022 change list attached. If a claim already rejected because you sent D8060, correct the code and resubmit. There is nothing to appeal, since the code did not exist on that date of service.
Our ortho case was banded in 2021 under D8060 and continued into 2022. What happens to the continuation claims?: The original claim keeps its original code. D8060 was valid through December 31, 2021, so the banding claim on a 2021 date of service was correct and should not be restated. The continuation and periodic visit claims carry their own dates of service, so anything dated January 1, 2022 or later has to use a current code. Code each claim to the CDT version in effect on that claim's date of service, and expect the payer's records for the case to show two different codes across its life. Note the banding date and the original code in the remarks so the continuation claims reconcile against the case the payer already has open.
What was the difference between interceptive and limited orthodontic treatment?: Interceptive treatment was framed around timing and intent: intervening early, while the patient was still growing, to head off a developing problem or reduce how much treatment would be needed later. Limited treatment was framed around scope: correcting one defined problem instead of the whole bite. In the chart those two descriptions land on the same cases most of the time, which is why the distinction collapsed. The current codebook keeps only the scope axis. Treatment with a narrow objective is limited, D8010 through D8040 by dentition stage. Treatment that corrects the full malocclusion is comprehensive, D8070 through D8090.

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CDT codes are maintained by the American Dental Association. This page is an editorial billing guide, not the official ADA code descriptor. Verify current coverage policies with each carrier before submitting claims.