Can I request laughing gas for impacted wisdom teeth?

You’ll have to discuss options with your dentist but I don’t think nitrous oxide gas ( sp? )would be strong enough to cut out impacted wisdom teeth. Of course I do not know for sure.
When my daughter had hers out she was so mentally resistant to being sedated they had to give her like triple the normal dose to get her to go under. haha
The dentist was amazed, he had to max her out.
It took like 2 hours to get her sedated enough to proceed.

If your health issues check out then really, it is just a matter of overcoming your anxiety. Usually they give you some sort of Valium or other mild sedative to relax you first then move onto whatever other methods of anesthesia they plan on using.
Impacted wisdom teeth can cause you much more trouble in the long run than being sedated for about 30 minutes in the short term. The actual procedure goes fast but you will be totally out of it for awhile afterwards, probably in the dentists office recovering for about an hour before they let you go home.

Obviously you will need someone to drive you home as well.

When I had dental implants put in, I took Valium (one time, one pill).

< is a dentist. It’s easy to tell from X-rays what kind of surgery you’ll need. It depends on: your age, degree of impaction, configuration of the roots of the wisdom teeth. Always go to an oral surgeon for wisdom teeth. The only exception to this is, some wisdom teeth are tiny and cone shaped, and anyone can flick them out. Most are not. You can only give someone so much nitrous, it’s a not in and of itself an anaesthetic or device for altering consciousness . Ask questions, and trust your oral surgeon. Good luck to you.

I had all my wisdom teeth taken out with local (novocaine) even tho some had roots wrapped around the bone, so they weren’t an easy deal by any means.

But if I had to do it over again, that’s what I would choose. Obviously they got it numb enough so I had zero pain during.

The only downside was the weird crunching sound which had me picturing a thousand pieces of teeth scattered all over the tray. However, I’m looking at an entire tooth sitting there. So, when I asked him about the crunching sound, he said “oh that’s because the root was wrapped around the bone. But don’t worry about it. Everything will be fine. ” and afaik it was.

Later on in life when a molar went bad I did go to an oral surgeon and wish I hadn’t. They put in an IV and knocked me out completely. I came to torally disoriented in the middle of some type of nightmare.

It was a horrible experience that left me afraid to go to sleep for the next two days.

I will never have anything else dental done unless it’s with a local. For me personally, general anesthesia for teeth is overkill.

I’ve gone through several tricky root canals with just a local. As long as they put enough in and you’re totally numb, there usually isn’t a problem.

I’m sure that knocking people out with general anesthesia makes everything easier on the dentist, but it’s not necessarily in the patients’ best interest.

If you don’t want general anesthesia there are alternatives. Just interview enough dentists beforehand to find one that’s willing to work with you.

But do it enough ahead of time so you’re not caught in a last minute emergency with your jaw all lumped out and swollen because that wisdom tooth is erupting. So get busy interviewing dentists and find one that’s right for you.

@trailsillustrated gave you the best advice. You need this done and if it is done right you will not feel a thing…in fact it may be the most relaxing part of your day. When I had my wisdom out I had nitrous and sodium pentathol combo and once that was administered I was ready for them to take all my teeth out and confess all my sins. Be more prepared for the days after and 5–6 days later it will be an after thought.

Maybe, but don’t get your hopes up about its effectiveness at dulling your senses. I tried it once and all I got was more paranoid about the discomfort. Find a surgeon who will knock you out for the operation.

I’m sure you’re not the only patient with PVC who has had their wisdom teeth extracted. I’d discuss it with your doctors, dentists and specialists. I’d also ask for a referral for a dental surgeon who has had experience with PVC patients.

@Buttonstc please don’t advise people about anaesthesia in dental surgery, “it’s not necessarily in the patient’s best interest”. While you and many others had a good, non-eventful outcome, the type of anaesthesia should only be determined by a specialist. Why? How old were you when you had your surgery? As I’ve written here before, women and teens have less dense bone. Teens have more elastic bone. This makes a BIG difference when you’re removing teeth. You, as a lay person, can’t know whether your dentist got the teeth out by removing lots of buccal plate, or by bisecting the teeth in an unconventional manner, or other things that may or may not matter. General anaesthetic is not used in the removal of wisdom teeth. This term is not correct, propofal is not used in dentistry and patients are not breathed as you would be to have say, a liver transplant. THATS general anaesthesia. The anaesthetic used in dentistry is a short acting “twilight sleep” type that you awake from feeling alert and clear. Methinks you had surgery eons ago, when they used ether. Also, consider this: local anaesthetic contains epinephrine to control bleeding and prolong the effect. You can only put so many units of epi into a person at a time, related to weight and general (heart and vascular) health. Any surgery that requires large amounts of this type of local, and/or Iv sedation should be done on a hospital campus ( which most specialists rooms are). Also, there needs to be a fully equipped crash cart in the operatory and staff fully trained to use it. I know this is not the case in general practise. I can’t say it enough. Have oral surgery done at an oral surgeons people. rant over

Ps- also, telling someone that has a ventricular condition to have local only just, I can’t even. For reason above. jeezus

If you read what I wrote, you’ll notice that the ONLY advice I gave her directly was to interview several dentists, and presumably dental surgeons) ahead of time to find one that was willing to work with her.

Whatever I said about local anesthetic was anecdotal to MY EXPERIENCE ONLY.

I never said that’s what she should do. I merely recounted my experiences both good and bad.

I also know from experience that most dentists (including surgeons) have their own personal preferences for whichever methods they use.

And sometimes they are extremely reluctant to do anything else regardless of a persons objections.

With so many different options available nowadays, I strongly believe that each patient has the right to not be manipulated into something they are not comfortable with.

This is why the only advice I gave was to interview as many dentists as it takes BEFOREHAND to find the right one for her. Waiting until it’s an emergency with wisdom teeth is a recipe for disaster.

I have no idea which type of anesthesia is best for her. But I know she should avail herself of the right to find a dentist willing to honor her preferences (or give her a medically sound reason for why her preference is not workable).

Just brusquely saying “Well that’s how we do it in this office” (as I was told) doesn’t cut it as far as I’m concerned.

So, I learned from rough experience to do my homework and interview dentists BEFORE the emergency. And ask lots of questions about areas of concern.

THAT was my sole piece of advice to her. Everything else I wrote was simply relating my own experience. If you look, you’ll notice that NOWHERE did I ever say “you should get a local anesthetic” (or any other type of anesthetic).

She and her dentist can discuss this beforehand.

“I’m sure that knocking people out with general anesthesia makes everything easier on the dentist, but it’s not necessarily in the patients’ best interest.”
It’s not to make it easier on the dentist.

I was going by the info given me by the dentist whom I subsequently chose.

I asked him point blank if he finds it necessary to knock someone out just to extract a tooth. He said no, of course not. But the dentists who choose this method have told him it’s because there’s no flinching squirming patient to deal with. Everything goes more smoothly.

Now, that may not be true for every single dentist on the planet but it is for some.

I mean, I asked the other dentist to please use novocaine since I’d had all four wisdom teeth out with it and he just refused with the brusquely stated “This is how we do it in this office.” Period.

Obviously I was free to leave but I was in too damn much pain. And he never even discussed the possibility of a root canal.

All this happened in my much younger days (mid 20s) when I was a lot less assertive with medical personnel and more easily manipulated.

But that doesn’t make what he did right.

It totally depends on the tooth. An easy trick is to remove way too much bone, viola ! Then the patient has periodontal problems in later life. Also, the toxic dose of epi is not all that much, you have to be an expert with nerve blocks to avoid getting it into a vessel. Are these not reasons enough to go to an expert who does nothing but oral surgery or root canals? Shakin my damn head. Lol- and he probably did not consider the tooth a viable candidate for root canal.

The first guy, the one who insisted upon knocking me out, WAS the oral surgeon.

Hence. What I’ve been saying. Unless you have micro third molars, fully erupted, no bony impactions AT ALL, and are working on a healthy adult, doing wisdoms under local only just seems nuts and a malpractise suit asking to happen. But that’s just me. What do I know.

This was not the wisdom teeth. Mine had been done years before (with just local with no problems) while I was still in college.

This was a tooth which suddenly went really bad. I had immediately previous been in the middle of a major move from NY to Mass. so I literally knew no one there well enough to recommend a good dentist.

I really don’t know whether knocking me out was the best option (or even the only option) since he refused to discuss it. The only info I got from him was “This is how we do it in this office.”

Basically: take it or leave it. You’ll have a hard time convincing me that treating every patient the exact same way (regardless of their wishes) is good medical practice.

I understand your point about the OP and I still feel that she should seek out a professional who will take the time to explain to her why her preference is or is not medically advisable. There is no “one size fits all” (or at least there shouldn’t be.)

She needs to feel comfortable and confident in that person’s medical judgement. And if the only way for that to occur is if he/she takes the time to listen to her viewpoint as well as presenting his own, then that’s what he should be willing to do.

I don’t know why you think it’s a “one size fits all” thing. I just explained in detail how it’s determined. Single and double rooted teeth are fine under local and even some 3 rooted teeth. There is bone involved, which in the mouth is vascular, and there are nerves. That dentist sounds like an old country grump, everything is explained in consultation before the surgery, and a form must be signed prior that they understand everything you said. I’m so glad I got out of dentistry. I can’t imagine any doctor trying to convince you or anyone that treating every case the same is ethical. Are you sure you were listening? Or were you insisting that he do it your way, because of course you knew that infection renders local anaesthetic useless. I’m sorry you had a bad experience.

I had the best experience getting my wisdom teeth removed. I knocked out. But after I got the IV (or shot. I remember a tube though. It’s kind of fuzzy…) I told the dentist that I felt wide awake and I wasn’t getting sleepy. He told me to count to 10 and if I was still awake, he’d do something about it. I started counting. Then I imagined the most beautiful pasture full of cherry trees in spring. Cherry blossoms were flying all around me. It was the most beautiful daydream I have ever had. Then I realized that the anesthesia hadn’t kicked in yet. I started to tell the dentist, but my mouth was stuffed with gauze. A nurse was explaining to me that the surgery was done. I was totally confused as she walked me all the way to my grandmothers car and shut the door. I had no idea any surgery happened at all.

It’s silly, but that daydream is still one of my fondest memories.

@keobooks that sounds lovely, I hope mine is like that lol! I am scheduled in two weeks. Laughing gas was an option but for some reason recommended the anesthesia… More money or easier on them probably.