Laughing Gas — Helping You Get The Care You Need & Want

Laughing gas is a mild sedative, used during various dental treatments to manage anxiety and pain. It’s completely odourless and colourless, and it’s administered via a nasal mask through which patients inhale the gas — the effects are noticeable within minutes.

Interestingly enough, laughing gas is not guaranteed to cause laughter — contrary to what its name implies. Instead, it simply lessens your inhibitions at a chemical level, by safely slowing down some of the functions of your nervous system. As a result, you may feel leg or arm heaviness, tingles, and light-headedness.

Ultimately, its purpose is to make you more comfortable and calm during dental procedures — and it does result in a couple of giggles more often than not!

Advantages of Laughing Gas

The main reason dentists utilize laughing gas is the fact that it’s an effective and safe sedation method. It quickly manages to relax dental patients, and crucially — its effects don’t last long. And it doesn’t put a patient to sleep, allowing them to easily communicate with their dentist and answer any questions or heed instructions. Generally, its main purpose is to relieve anxiety and fear for individuals with:

• • More severe dental issues which require more work
  • A difficult gag reflex
  • Issues sitting in the dentist’s chair still
  • Low pain thresholds

Even children sometimes receive this type of sedation if they don’t easily cooperate or are particularly afraid of the dentist. Still, it’s important to have professional dental healthcare providers administering laughing gas — which is precisely the kind working at JM Dental!

Our practice houses experienced dentists in Etobicoke, always welcoming new patients and more than ready to help you out! Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or if you want to schedule a consultation.