I guess that the solution to this problem can be automated. The DB or an extension to the DB or application code can run the query without hints sometimes and c

I guess that the solution to this problem can be automated. The DB or an extension to the DB or application code can run the query without hints sometimes and compare the result with the version with hints. If the hinted version is still faster, good. If it is slower, it's time to tell the DBA. Or switch to the unhinted query automatically if it's faster for a large enough number of times.