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K02.6 ICD-10-CM Code: Dental caries on smooth surface

Billing Status: NO. This is a clinician non-billable / parent hierarchy grouping in the ICD-10-CM system.

Coding at a Glance

Tabular directives
6 inclusion terms

Coding instructions

Official Tabular Instructional Notes: the inclusion, exclusion and sequencing notes published for K02.6 in the official ICD-10-CM tabular list, quoted as published.

Source: CMS/CDC — ICD-10-CM Tabular ListRelease: FY2027Effective: October 1, 2026

Trace:FY2027 changesChange historyRelease, file and checksum

Notes without a marker are published on K02.6 itself; “inherited from” names the category or block whose note applies here.

Includes

Conditions the official ICD-10-CM tabular list includes under this code.

  • caries of dentine
  • dental cavities
  • early childhood caries
  • pre-eruptive caries
  • recurrent caries (dentino enamel junction) (enamel) (to the pulp)
  • tooth decay

Source: inherited from K02

Coder workflow for K02.6

MedCoder structured workflow — derived from this code’s own official record

Before you code K02.6

  1. K02.6 is not reportable as written. Select the more specific code beneath it that the documentation supports. Codes are reported to the highest level of specificity the classification provides (Guidelines I.B.2).

    ReviewK02.61, K02.62, K02.63

    See the relationships section · Guide: How to choose an ICD-10-CM code →

Choose the right path

  1. Does the documentation support one of the more specific codes beneath K02.6?
    Yes → Select that code and continue the checks below on its own page.
    No → K02.6 cannot be reported as written; query for the specificity its subcategory needs.

    ReviewK02.61, K02.62, K02.63

Consider K02.6. Then confirm the code is valid for the date of service in the Verify section.

Documentation check

The provider’s diagnostic statement
Codes are assigned from the provider’s documented diagnosis, not from clinical criteria, test values or a medication list (Guidelines I.A.19).

Every row is derived from this code’s own record — its title, tabular notes, 7th-character family and same-category siblings — with fixed MedCoder wording; nothing is inferred about a patient. The official notes and guideline text are in the sections each row links to, and they control.

Don’t confuse K02.6 with…

MedCoder analysis — pairs from this code’s official notes, distinctions written by MedCoder

The codes most likely to be picked instead of K02.6 — named in its own official notes, or sharing its laterality or encounter family — with what separates them and which documentation moves the case. Each links to the full comparison.

  • K02.9— Specificity relationship (Review)

    Overlapping diagnoses in the same category.

    Overlapping codes in the same category — the documentation decides which is the more specific fit.

    What moves you there: A record that documents no more than “Dental caries, unspecified” takes K02.9; specificity in the record moves it back here.

    Full comparison: K02.6 vs K02.9 →

Relationships are read from this code's own official notes, its laterality siblings and its encounter family; the wording of each distinction is MedCoder editorial, and the documentation named in each “what moves you there” line is the official note phrase or sibling title itself. Source: CMS ICD-10-CM tabular instructional notes; ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines, Section I.A.12.a.

Code Overview

Dental caries on smooth surface is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code (K02.6). A more specific billable subcode must be selected for claims submission.

MedCoder summary Summary composed by MedCoder from this code's official ICD-10-CM record. The tabular instructional notes themselves appear verbatim below.

Verify Before Coding

From the code registry, the Medicare Code Editor, and the MS-DRG Definitions Manual. Check it against a full claim in Claim Check.

Relationships & Classification

MedCoder structured relationships — computed from published CMS and AHRQ datasets

Other codes that name K02.6 or its code family, from the CMS ICD-10-CM tabular instructional notes. Tabular-note edges are stored at the code family level that carries each note.

Referenced by 1 Excludes2 note: K03 — Other diseases of hard tissues of teeth (via K02.-).

These codes’ tabular lists name this diagnosis as distinct — both may be reported when both are documented.

Contextual Map

Every relationship of K02.6 in one view: hierarchy, official tabular instructions in both directions, clinical classification, risk adjustment, MS-DRG participation, index terms and change history — each edge carrying the CMS source it derives from.

Run K02.6 with this related code in Claim Check

Hierarchy

Referenced by Excludes2 notes

Nearest codes (11)

Change history

  • FY2016 — In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption [Change history]— CMS release files (code change ledger) · icd10cm-fy2016

Common coding questions

Can K02.6 be billed directly?

No. K02.6 (Dental caries on smooth surface) is a non-billable ICD-10-CM category code. A more specific billable subcode must be selected based on clinical documentation.

Sources for this page

Codes, titles, notes, index terms and mappings on this page are transcribed from the datasets below. Relationships MedCoder computed and text MedCoder wrote are labelled where they appear.

Code, title, tabular notes and index terms Official source data
CMS/CDC ICD-10-CM FY2027 tabular list, index and tables, effective October 1, 2026 Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Claim edits Official source data
CMS Definitions of Medicare Code Edits — v44.0 (October 2026) Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Change history and date-of-service validity Official source data
CMS ICD-10-CM release addenda, ingested release by release into the change ledger Release, file and checksum · Publisher’s page
Comparisons, relationships and the contextual map MedCoder structured relationship
Computed by MedCoder from the tabular notes and tables above; every derived relationship is marked as derived where it appears
Summary and FAQ answers MedCoder explanation
Written by MedCoder to explain the sources above: drafted with AI assistance, checked by a person against the release files, and labelled as MedCoder text where it appears. Not official text.

Labels on this page: Official source data · MedCoder structured relationship · MedCoder explanation. How to read the labels · All data sources and release dates

Cite this page

Reference this page in a research guide, syllabus or article. The release is included because code content changes each year.

MedCoder.ai. "K02.6 — Dental caries on smooth surface." ICD-10-CM FY2027. https://medcoder.ai/icd10/code/k02.6-dental-caries-on-smooth-surface

Change history

  • FY2016 — October 1, 2015
    In the code set at ICD-10-CM adoption
    Dental caries on smooth surface

No changes since FY2016 — additions, deletions, description changes and billable-status changes are tracked through FY2027, and none are recorded for this code. Note changes are tracked from FY2027 only.

Nearest Codes in This Family

Official ICD-10-CM classifications closest to K02.6 in its code family, with their registry titles.

View all codes in the K02 family