New Frontiers for Implementation Science in Oral Health: Digital and Equity-Driven Pathways.

Abstract

Implementation science has gradually entered the field of oral health, with important contributions to the adoption of clinical guidelines and recent debates on the deimplementation of low-value care. Yet, its application remains limited in scope, leaving critical opportunities underexplored. This perspective article argues that implementation science in oral health should move beyond a predominant focus on guideline uptake, provider behavior, and individual-level barriers toward a broader agenda that addresses digital transformation, community-driven implementation, environmental sustainability, misinformation, and commercial and colonial determinants of health. By applying an equity-driven and decolonial lens, this article highlights how power, trust, communication, governance, and structural inequities shape whether evidence-based oral health interventions are adopted, adapted, sustained, and equitably delivered. We propose a forward-looking agenda that positions implementation science not only as a field concerned with closing the evidence-practice gap but also as a pathway for advancing epistemic justice, sustainability, and structural change in oral health systems. Advancing these directions can support more effective, sustainable, and just oral health care worldwide.Knowledge Transfer Statement:This perspective article reframes implementation science in oral health by integrating digital health, equity, sustainability, and structural determinants, guiding researchers and policy makers toward context-sensitive, participatory, and just oral health interventions.