A study was undertaken to evaluate the quality of recovery and the extent of morbidity following the extraction of wisdom teeth on an outpatient basis. Two anaesthetic techniques were compared, one based on spontaneous respiration and the other on mechanical ventilation, both were based on propofol and were in other respects tailored to the requirements of the short stay patient. Objective tests of recovery demonstrated no differences between the groups at 30 and 60 minutes postoperatively, and there was similarly no difference in the incidence of morbidity symptoms apart from a 16% incidence of severe muscle pain associated with the use of suxamethonium. The overall patient acceptability for the procedure was high; 80% in each group. It is argued that recent improvements in agents available for short stay anaesthesia should enable many patients hitherto treated as inpatients to be transferred to the outpatient setting with considerable economic benefit.