What are the effects of laughing gas and IV sedation?

Question

I have a cyst in my mouth and need it removed by an oral surgeon. He said I need to have laughing gas, then and IV thats will have stuff in it to make me fall asleep. What is it like? Also, how long will I be in the recovery room? Im a little nervouse, ive never had either one.

Answer 1

"Laughing gas" is nitrous oxide or N2O. It makes you feel fuzzie, like a Martini without the olive. At the end, they will give you an oxygen mix and the effects will leave you without any after-effect.

IV sedation is different. Many oral surgeons use it to put patients into a light sleep. You will not be aware of the procedure and will wake up in a recovery area.

Please be sure that your surgeon is qualified to administer the sedation, and tha he/she has done this many times over a period of years. Used by a qualified professional, IV sedation can be a nice way to have unpleasant dental procedures done so that the patient doesn't remember.

I'm a little curious as to why you would need both nitrous AND IV sedation. Usually we use either one or the other. Make sure your dentist explains this completely.

Recovery should be OK. Make sure someone is around to drive you home and stay with you for the rest of the day. Have some soft foods available to eat and limit activity for 48 hours. You might feel nausea when you wake up.

The sedation you will receive is much less than you would get for having your appendix removed, for example.

Answer 2

The gas will have a slightly funny smell at first, but you will just feel dazed within a few minutes and your mind will feel clouded. Kind of like feeling like you just woke up out of a deep sleep, except you will actually continue to fell this way as long as the procedure takes. The IV will assist this feeling to make you feel numb to all pain and you will only feel slight pressure from the surgeon's work. In general, you will be in a very dreamy state, almost like you're watching the surgeon work, but it doesn't seem like its going on in your own mouth. After the work is done, you will immediately recover from sedation once the gas is stopped and the IV is removed, but you will feel somewhat weak and your mind will be slow to react, like you havn't slept for a couple days. This feeling will slowly go away for an hour or so until you feel normal again. Except the fact you will begin to feel the work that has been done in your mouth. I had the same sedation when I had all my wisdom teeth removed, as well as novacaine. Hope you get painkillers too.

Answer 3

With that combination, you'll be in la-la land for as long as they need to keep you there. Usually, they use the nitrous to relax you so that you won't even care about getting the iv med. Once the iv med starts, they will probably turn off the nitrous and leave you on plain oxygen during the procedure. You'll be in recovery for about half an hour to an hour and then someone will drive you home. You won't be really 100% clear headed until the next day.

Emmalue has given a better and more detailed answer below, so I defer to her.

Answer 4

The nitrous oxide will relax you. You will only feel the effects of it while you are breathing it.

With IV sedation, you won't remember a thing. It generally takes between 30 minutes to an hour for it to wear off enough for someone to take you home but you wont even remember leaving. Don't be nervous, you won't feel or remember a thing. Good luck.

Answer 5

Lots of dentists do this to relax the patient before they get near them with the IV, Had it done with and without and the laughing gas did nothing for me, You probably wont do anything embrassing while on it and if so most dentists have heard stuff before and brush it off.

Answer 6

Funny dreams?