Using Nitrous Oxide to Reduce Fear of Dental Treatment
Probably one of the most helpful tools I have in my office to help make dentistry painless and definitely take the fear out of having dental treatment done is the use of nitrous oxide-oxygen sedation, otherwise known as laughing gas. I will use the term nitrous oxide (N.O.) for short. The term laughing gas is really a misnomer. It doesn't really make you laugh when we use it although on rare occasions it can give patients a bit of the giggles. Nitrous oxide has been used in dentistry for over one hundred years. Nitrous oxide is always given with oxygen. In fact, when dentists use nitrous oxide-oxygen sedation their patients will also receive at minimum of 30% oxygen, which is more than the 20% oxygen present in the air that we normally breathe. Nitrous oxide sedation is very safe and can be used for both adults and children. |