St. Lawrence Dentistry has a range of dental sedation options, and one of them is Nitrous Oxide or ‘Laughing Gas.’
Nitrous Oxide has some excellent advantages over other pain and anxiety management options. There are many indications for its use, and the disadvantages are few.
Nitrous oxide can offer pain control (analgesia). A mixture of 20% N2O and 80% O2 has about the same analgesic equipotent potential as 15mg of morphine. Nitrous oxide can raise a patient’s pain threshold and lessen perceived fear when administered before a dental injection. It is advantageous when other analgesic drugs have contraindications, such as in someone with allergies or addiction issues.
Nitrous oxide has well-documented sedative effects. Laughing gas can significantly assist patients in handling their fear by producing a sense of well-being. Dental sedation enables the patient to become calm, relaxed, and able to tolerate a situation better. This comfortable feeling creates a positive effect on a patient’s pain threshold.
In Children’s Dentistry, Nitrous Oxide has been shown to facilitate positive behavior and lowered anxiety levels on sequential visits. Our goal is to prevent early adverse childhood experiences, which will ultimately lessen the number of fearful adults. Finally, another goal is to provide children with enough positive treatment experiences, so they do not need nitrous oxide in the future.
Nitrous Oxide dental sedation provides considerable amnesic properties (i.e., unable to recollect treatment time fully). After the procedure, patients often state they cannot recall the severity of their pain or the anxiety, nor the duration. The passage of time tends to become unclear under nitrous oxide sedation, and patients often remark how quickly time passed during the treatment.
Rapid onset of action is a favorable trait of nitrous oxide dental sedation. Clinical effects may begin in less than 30 seconds and peak in less than 5 minutes.
Titration, the process of administering a drug incrementally, is accomplished easily with nitrous oxide. Recovery is quick and uneventful with nitrous oxide. Inhalation of N20/O2 N2O/O2 allows for complete recovery using fresh oxygen after the termination of the drug.
While laughing gas can offer a subtle floating, relaxed feeling; some of our patients prefer to be completely asleep. St. Lawrence Dentistry is fully certified by the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario to provide dental work fully asleep. Board Certified Medical Anesthesiologists give the anesthesia.
If you would like to learn more about dentistry asleep at our office, please visit us here:
Dentistry Asleep (Sedation Dentistry)
As you can see, this dental sedation modality offers some significant advantages. St. Lawrence Dentistry offers Oral Sedation, Nitrous Oxide Sedation, and Dentistry asleep. If you are looking for a dentist in Mississauga and would like to investigate these options further, please give our office a call.
