Dental office structure and treatment outcome--related or independent?

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that the physical and organizational structure of a dental office is a reliable predictor of dental treatment outcome. A supervised self-evaluation instrument was developed to evaluate the physical and organizational structure of a dental office. Seventy dental offices-50 offices previously identified as delivering acceptable care and 20 offices previously identified as delivering less than acceptable care-were tested with this instrument. The authors concluded that there were no significant structural differences between dental offices giving "acceptable care" and "less than acceptable care."