Oral surgical interventions on an outpatient basis are attended by considerable hygienic hazards. The main reasons of this, which are in part subjective and in part objective, are presented. Some typical examples show that at least minimal hygienic requirements may be met by the physician and by the patient also under apparently unfavourable conditions. An optimal solution must be aimed at, but this requires certain prerequisites as to equipment and premises. In any case, it must be called for in planning and establishing greater stomatological services that sould be preferred for this reason to single practices also from the viewpoint of hygiene. Consequently, the propagation of hospitalism and infections caused by pathogenic organisms may be controlled by strict hygienic measures also in our specialty.