Why don't dentists use nitrous oxide (laughing gas) anymore?
967889
Nitrous oxide is an analgesic guys...it is still used but is minimally effective which is why it isn't used often.  Becuase it is an analgesic and not an anesthetic it does not get you numb...you still feel the pain (even at high concentrations you react to the pain) but you care less about the pain.  It has to be used in conjunction with anesthetic...so you would still get an injection.   In adults the effects are decreased, which is why it is mostly used on children and young adults.  From another standpoint, it takes longer to administer the nitrous for a procedure....and anything that is minimally effective and takes longer to use is often avoided by dentists.
290354
Generally someone is under anesthesia.  The gas is under pressure before it goes to the patient.  Pneumatic pressure would be important in this.
999086
sleeping gas-nitrous oxide\n\nDuring the past one hundred and fifty years a number of gases\n\nhave been adopted into anesthesia practice---ether, chloroform,\n\ncyclopropane and others---which have disappeared from the clinical\n\narmamentarium as better agents appeared. Yet the oldest gas used\n\nfor surgical pain relief, nitrous oxide, remains a frequently\n\nused agent in certain types of surgeries and dental procedures.\n\n \n\nNitrous oxide was first identified around 1774 by the great English chemist,\n\nUnitarian minister, author and all-around radical Joseph Priestley.\n\nAlthough Priestley suggested a potential medical use\n\nfor the various gases with which he experimented, this potential\n\nwas not tested until the late 1780s when English physician Thomas\n\nBeddoes began efforts to adapt gas inhalation for therapeutic uses.\n\nBeddoes' work eventually led to the founding of his Pneumatic\n\nInstitution near Bristol, the hiring of a young Humphry Davy as\n\nresearch assistant and their experimental work over more than a\n\nyear with nitrous oxide.(1) In one of the closing paragraphs of his\n\ngreat monograph describing this research, published in the summer of\n\n1800, Davy left us this tantalizing observation: "As nitrous oxide\n\nin its extensive operation appears capable of destroying physical pain,\n\nit may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in\n\nwhich no great effusion of blood takes place." (2) Thus the concept\n\nof surgical pain relief via gas inhalation appeared at the very beginning\n\nof the nineteenth century. The medical community of the day met Davy's\n\nsuggestion with stunning disinterest.\n\n \n\nYet knowledge of nitrous oxide did not disappear entirely from public view.\n\nMedical and chemistry textbooks, literary and other satires, and public\n\nand classroom demonstrations of nitrous oxide's remarkable effects on\n\nhumans served as channels in which information about the gas survived for the\n\nnext four decades. (3-6) At one such public demonstration in December 1844,\n\nin Hartford, Connecticut, dentist Horace Wells reconstructed Davy's\n\nobservation about nitrous oxide and began experiments with the gas on first\n\nhimself and then his patients. In the following month he persuaded one of\n\nAmerica's most famous surgeons, John Collins Warren, to let him demonstrate\n\nthe gas in the operating theater of the Massachusetts General Hospital in\n\nBoston. When the patient cried out during the operation, Wells was hooted\n\nfrom the room by the medical faculty and students in attendance and the\n\ndemonstration was widely perceived a failure. Almost two years later, in\n\nthe same room, William Morton successfully demonstrated ether anesthesia for\n\nthe same surgeon, and the battle over who "discovered" anesthesia\n\nbegan. (7)\n\n \n\nWells continued to use nitrous oxide even after his Boston "failure"\n\nand Morton's demonstrations in October and November 1846. The following\n\narticle, written by Dr. E.E. Marcy of Hartford, describes a case of\n\nAugust 17, 1847, in which Wells administered nitrous oxide to one of\n\nMarcy's patients who had a testicle removed. After describing the\n\nsuccessful surgery, and the patient's assertion that after a brief\n\ninitial pain the rest of the surgery was painless, Marcy proceeds to\n\nvigorously defend nitrous oxide as a better agent than ether. Marcy\n\ncontinued to defend Wells and "his" gas even after Wells' suicide in\n\nearly 1848.(8)
745950
I personally did not use it but I did see a report on the Channel Six News (Problem Solvers is the segment where they test out products and tell consumers if it is worth buying the product or not).  They tried the White Light Teeth Whitening System for a few days and then went to a dentist.  The dentist had taken a picture before trying the product and after he used it for a week and there was a very small change.  The dentist said that it would have just been easier and cheaper to have it done in his office then wasting the time and money on that product.
614419
I'm a dentist.\n\nNo, we are not con men.  You are just a very untrusting patient and a cheapskate who doesn't want to pay for necessary work.  Gold fillings, caps, and "all sorts of stuff" exist because people need them.\n\nThe problem with many patients we see is that they seem to think that they are perfectly capable of diagnosing their dental needs, and that when we dentists make a diagnosis different than their own we are trying to "upsell".\n\nWe, as dentists, put up with patient ignorance and stupidity more than any other type of doctor.  We spend more time with you than your primary care physician does.  We listen to your useless, meaningless descriptions of "how much my tooth has been hurting" more than any other kind of doctor, and you patients put the kinds of unrealistic expectations on us that you wouldn't dare put on your physician.\n\nYou really don't understand what it is we do.  We take your diseased mouth and fix it so that you can eat normally instead of gumming your food, or worse, dying.  That little cavity we diagnosed and treated would have progressed into an abscess that could kill you.  Trust me, I've seen many patients admitted into hospitals for infections so extensive that they had to be intubated in order to protect the airway.  And when a tooth is sensitive after we place a filling in it, you blame us as if we damaged a pefectly healthy tooth.\n\nThere are thousands of fillings out there, placed by me, that are chomping down on food in thousands of peoples' mouths.  Few if any of these patients give a second thought about the fact that they've got dental work in there.  But if it wasn't there, they'd certainly miss it.  What we do is truly amazing, yet unappreciated.\n\nOur job is exceedingly difficult.  It's why dentists are more prone to suicide.  A recent study showed that 68% of dentists wish they were in another profession.  We stick with it out of a sense of obligation to our patients.  Despite the fact that you drive us nuts and often treat us like sh*t, we are concerned for your health.\n\nMake no mistake about it, though, we record our treatment recommendations as well as the fact you ignored them.
49211
THERE ARE ALWAYS RISKS TO ANYTHING LIKE THAT. I WILL SAY THAT IM A WUSS WHEN IT COMES TO THE DENTIST, BUT LET ME TELL YOU, NITROUS IS THE WAY TO GO. HE WAS DOING A ROOT CANAL ON ME CRANKING AWAY, PRYING SOMETHING IN MY MOUTH AND I WAS HOLDING UP MY RASDIO CHANGING THE STATION. I COULDNT HAVE CARED LESS WHAT HE WAS DOING TO ME. GO FOR IT, YOU WILL LOVE IT.
1082499
You're right that it isn't just the pain that bothers you, it's the fear of the pain.  Some dentists now use tranquilizer  stuff that can help you relax so that they can get to the next step of actually working on the tooth.  In fact, some even will anesthetize you just like for a surgery, so you don't have to deal with it at all!\n\nYouch!  I'm not surprised that you would be scared of the pain, your story makes me scared just reading it!\n\nIf your molar is  broken you really need to get it taken care of--germs can get into the nerve and then you would really be bad off! \n\nBy the way, when you were 12, obviously the dentist didn't do a good job of anesthetizing the area.  He should have poked around a bit to see if it had taken yet, and since it hadn't he should have given you more novacaine!  I had a bad molar pulled and was worried about it, but the dentist gave me extra shots so it was really, really numb, and it was fine.
818950
if u r a heavy drinker or u used to take some kind of medicines or may be drugs ..all this will effect &decrease your response to local anasthesia...in the other hand may be ur dentist didn't give you enough anas. or didn't inject it exactly where it should be inject.(((all the above reasons are normal and common but not in your case)))...in your case you didn't trust your dentist you were affraid of drilling and injecting a foriegn solution in your mouth tissues ((believe me that the main common cause of what you suffered from)) ...psychological cause very common in the first dental procedure in the life and in some cases it remain with the person all his life .....the other issue ((a bigger cavity)) that's normal cause the dentist have to clean tooth cavity from dead and decayed tooth tissues and food  debris accomulated in the cavity and apart of the healthy tooth tissue to make sure that the decay will not return back eatin the rest of your tooth because any micro  soft caries spot if left will reactivate itself after dressing the permenant filling ........and it's good for you when she didn't filled ur tooth with a permenant metal filling material ...it will be very painfull for you in the first 3-7 days.(((good luck....by the way i'm a dentist)))
663110
I had a bad experience with a dentist...he couldn't freeze the infection and had to call in the receptionist to help hold me down while he drilled to the nerve and froze the nerve. ever since then i fear dentist and shake uncontrollaby when I have to go. Dentist suck...you can put a man on the moon and do heart transplants but dentistry is still painful..i don't get it.
802937
You're right.  Find a different dentist!
343485
How long have you had the night guard?  If you've only had it for a few days, than this is normal behavior & your body will eventually learn to not have you taken it out at night.\n\nIn response to your new information--the nightguard is perhaps to loose & your body knows it's not doing the job it used to & you are taking it out for that reason.  Highly recommend that you get a new one. $750 for a new one?  WOW! That is really expensive.  The office I work for only charges $375.  Call around to other dental offices & see what their prices are.
204537
laughing gas is nitrous oxide. you can't make it... it takes a chemical manufacturer to produce it. and tear gas is actually a crystaline mix. it's named CS gas for the chemicals it's made out of.  The crystaline powder is burned or blown up and will come out as a gas like substance. it is heavier than air and will go to the ground fairly quickly. it is an irritant to skin and resperatory system. if you get some ever you will have bad burning of the eyes and itchiness of the skin. you will have difficulty breathing and maybe puke! what ever you do keep your arms out to your sides and flap them like a bird would. this will shake the crystaline powder off of you. dont rub your eyes you just put more in them. you have to wait it out. but you can't make it either. that is chemically manufactured too
32352
There is a very strong seditive called Halcion that your dentist will precribe for you to take one hour before a procedure, and they will also give you nitrus oxide if they have that in their dental office during the procedure (if you even need it along with the Halcion,) Halcion  has a amnesiac effect, where you won't even remember getting any work done, you have to have someone drive you to and from the appointment, trust me, if you take this pill, you won't care where you are going, at leaste that is what i have seen, my spouse also had to take this before he had some extractions done, he appeared to be in la la land with a big smile on his face, hope this will help.
332599
Well as I was telling my friend enzyme304 the other day CnG, my neighbor Henry who I have talked about before, is pretty darn handy with medical stuff. He has practiced on \nneighborhood pets and even Beulah his wife. I just finished yellin over the fence to ask him about this question. Henry\nsaid it could be done with a good piece of garden hose, a \npen, shop vac, and some string and duct tape to close things up. Henry said he would give it a try if your in the \nneighborhood, just let me know.
862700
We have had some problems with it in the Bay area. Something to do with leaking cavity fluids, or the like. Legislation was proposed. I do not remember if there was any outcome, or not. It has been a while and I was not paying strict attention, as I am a living organism sort of guy.
888283
This is one of those dodgy things that "everybody knows." And not just the uninformed public, either--dentists themselves believe it. Since the 1960s dental journals have been carrying articles with headlines like "The Suicidal Professions." Dozens of studies have looked at suicide not only among dentists but among health-care workers in general. With few exceptions, research over the past 40 years has found that dentists (and doctors) take their own lives at a higher-than-average rate. But how much higher? To hear some tell it, you'd better not leave these guys in a room alone.\n\nDentists' odds of suicide "are 6.64 times greater than the rest of the working age population," writes researcher Steven Stack. "Dentists suffer from relatively low status within the medical profession and have strained relationships with their clients--few people enjoy going to the dentist." One study of Oregon dentists found that they had the highest suicide rate of any group investigated. A California study found that dentists were surpassed only by chemists and pharmacists. Of 22 occupations examined in Washington state, dentists had a suicide rate second only to that of sheepherders and wool workers.\n\nBut the sheer diversity of results has to make you suspicious. I mean, which is it--dentists, chemists and pharmacists, or sheepherders and wool workers? (What, the bleating gets to them?) And what about psychiatrists? One school of popular belief holds that they have the highest suicide rate.\n\nRead the studies and you begin to see the problem. Suicide research is inherently a little flaky, in part because suicides are often concealed. Equally important from a statistical standpoint is the problem of small numbers: dentists represent only a small fraction of the total population, only a small fraction of them die in a given year, and only a small fraction of those that die are suicides. So you've got people drawing grand conclusions based on tiny samples. For example, I see where the Swedes think their male dentists have an elevated suicide rate. Number of male-dentist suicides on which this finding is based: 18.\n\nBut you aren't reading this column to hear me whine about the crummy data. You want the facts. Coming right up. All we need to do, for any occupation of interest, is (a) find a large, reasonably accurate source of mortality statistics, (b) compute suicides as a percentage of total deaths for said group, and (c) compare that percentage with some benchmark, like so:\n\nPERCENTAGE OF DEATHS DUE TO SUICIDE\nU.S. white male population 25 and older (1970): 1.5\nU.S. white male dentists (1968-72): 2.0 (85 of 4,190)\nU.S. white male medical doctors (1967-72): 3.0 (544 of 17,979)\nU.S. white male population 25 and older (1990): 2.0\nU.S. white male medical doctors (1984-95): 2.7 (379 of 13,790)
936553
Gas-X and Listerine!?!