Sedation Dentistry

Patients who dislike needles as it provides a bit of altered consciousness and reduces mild anti anxiety.

It can be used safely for most patients except for ones with terminal disease, respiratory obstruction, severe cold or hay fever.

The equipment used for delivering “happy gas” is quite simple. It consists of a supply of compressed gases and an apparatus which delivers the gases to the client. By turning some knobs and flipping on/off switches, the administrator can produce the desired mix of N2O-O2 in the desired quantities.

Flowmeters and pressure gauges allow the administrator to keep an eye on the flow of gases. The desired N2O-O2 mix is fed through a tube to which a nasal hood or cannula is attached. This hood is put over your nose.

All you have to do now is breathe normally through your nose – bingo! In modern machines there is a sort of double mask where the outside mask is connected to a vacuum machine to suck away the waste gas – you wouldn’t want your dentist to get a face full of N2O… The white inside mask, which is placed over your nose, comes in lots of yummy scents – such as vanilla, strawberry, and mint! The twin tubes running to the mask are for “gas in” and “gas out”.

The “gas out” line is attached to the vacuum machine, while the “gas in” line is attached to the RA (short for relative analgesia) machine. The inner mask is attached to the “line in”, you breathe out through a one-way valve in the inner mask, and the exhaust gas is collected inside the outer grey mask (pictured to your right) and sucked into the vacuum machine.

Nitrous oxide works very rapidly – it reaches the brain within 20 seconds, and relaxation and pain-killing properties develop after 2 or 3 minutes.

The depth of sedation can be altered from moment to moment, allowing the person who administers the gas to increase or decrease the depth of sedation. Other sedation techniques don’t allow for this.

For example, with IV sedation, it’s easy to deepen the level of sedation, but difficult to lessen it. Whereas with laughing gas, the effects are almost instant.

Other sedation techniques have a fixed duration of action (because the effects of pills or intravenous drugs last for a specific time span), whereas gas can be given for the exact time span it’s needed for.

It can also be switched off when not needed and then switched on again (though to avoid a roller-coaster effect, you shouldn’t do this too abruptly).

The gas is eliminated from the body within 3 to 5 minutes after the gas supply is stopped. You can safely drive home and don’t need an escort.

With nitrous oxide, it’s easy to give incremental doses until the desired action is obtained (this is called “titration”). So the administrator has virtually absolute control over the action of the drug, preventing the possibility of accidental overdoses.

While giving incremental doses is possible with IV sedation, it’s not possible with oral sedation (as a result, oral sedation can be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair).

Those involving gums rather than teeth (e. g. deep cleaning) – it may be possible to use nitrous instead of local anaesthesia. N2O acts as a painkiller on soft tissues such as gums.

However, its pain-relieving effects vary a lot from person to person and can’t be relied upon. No injection is required. In cases of very severe needle phobia, getting laughing gas first can help you feel relaxed enough to allow the needle required for IV sedation to be inserted in your arm or hand. The very deep state of sedation achievable through IV sedation will then allow you to accept local anaesthetic.

Inhalation sedation is very safe. It has very few side effects and the drugs used have no ill effects on the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. Inhalation sedation has been found to be very effective in eliminating or at least minimizing severe gagging.

Some people are not comfortable with the effects of laughing gas (either because they’re afraid they might lose control or because it makes them feel nauseous – this is quite rare, though, and usually due to oversedation).

If you’re prone to nausea, it’s a good idea to have a meal (not a huge one) about 4 hours before your appointment. If that’s not possible (e. g. an early morning appointment), make sure your stomach isn’t completely empty – but don’t stuff yourself straight beforehand either.

According to Gordon, who’s a bit of an expert in the field, the normal working concentration of gases is about 70% oxygen to 30% nitrous oxide: “It’s rare to go beyond that because that’s what brings on the nausea, more than 45% N2O and you’re going to have the patient puke on you :grin:”. Some people will not achieve adequate sedation with permissible levels of oxygen.

If you can’t breathe through your nose (either because you’re a pure mouth breather, or because your nose is blocked), or you feel too claustrophobic when something is put over your nose, it can’t be used. Depending on where you live, a dentist who offers nitrous oxide may be hard to come by.

Apart from that, most of the disadvantages of inhalation sedation don’t affect you, but the dental team: there’s training required, the equipment is quite bulky and takes up a lot of space, and there is a possibility that dental staff who are chronically exposed to nitrous oxide might develop health problems.

The cost of the equipment and gases is high, so you’ll have to contribute to the cost – but it’s quite a bit cheaper than IV sedation.

On rare occasions, people have reported a bad experience with nitrous oxide. Usually this is due to oversedation – getting too much N2O in the mix.

This is easily reversible by reducing the amount of N2O. For example, a few people have reported auditory and “physical” hallucinations, dizziness, or vertigo. Don’t panic if you should experience this.

While these symptoms are usually due to the N2O concentration being too high for you, the machines used nowadays have built-in safety features preventing an accidental overdose. Nonetheless, these sensations can be unpleasant – let your dentist know asap about any unpleasant sensations or symptoms so that they can adjust the percentage of N2O.

Laughing, becoming giddy, crying, or uncoordinated movements are other signs that the NO2 concentration is too high, but these will easily be spotted by your dentist. Alternatively, just rip the mask off your nose!

Don’t confuse “dizziness” with the normal feeling of lightheadedness which many people who’ve never had N2O before experience after maybe 60 or 90 seconds. The feeling of lightheadedness will pass as the concentration of N2O is increased. Some experts in this field (e. g. Stanley Malamed) argue that nitrous oxide should always be “titrated”. This means gradually increasing the percentage of nitrous oxide in the N2O – O2 mix until a comfortable level is reached.

The reason why titration should ideally be used every single time is because of potential adverse effects in the event of oversedation (including flashbacks of traumatic past events, as well as physical ill-effects). However, other experts (e.g. Fred Quarnstrom) say that it’s ok to use a mix based on prior experience (a concentration which a particular patient has experienced as pleasant during previous appointments).

Quite a lot of dentists do this because it’s quicker. The problem with this approach is that tolerance can vary from visit to visit, depending on both psychological and physiological factors. What is experienced as pleasant varies from person to person and from day to day.

And once a person has been oversedated, they may come to dislike nitrous oxide so much that they don’t want to try it again.

There aren’t any major contraindications to relative analgesia, except for M.S., emphysema and some exotic chest problems.

It hasn’t been proven to be safe during the first trimester of pregnancy, so you can’t use it then. Because you have to breathe it in through your nose, it’s not suitable for people who have a cold or some other condition which prevents them from breathing through their nose.

You can’t be allergic to N2O. It’s also safe to use if you suffer from epilepsy, liver disease, heart disease, diabetes, or cerebrovascular disease. It is also used quite successfully in many people with respiratory disease – but it depends on the exact nature of the disease, so check with your dentist!

How do I know if it’s for me?

Why not ask if you can have a 5 minute ‘sample’ so that you know what to expect on the day of your procedure.