Types of Dental Sedation:
None of these involve “being put to sleep”, even though advertisements for “sleep dentistry” sometimes refer to oral or IV sedation. Being put to sleep is called general anaesthesia, or GA for short.
- Inhalation sedation (also known as “laughing gas”, “happy gas”, nitrous oxide, “gas and air”, relative analgesia)
- Oral sedation (anti-anxiety pills or a liquid)
- Intravenous (IV) sedation (drugs administered into the blood-stream through a vein – that’s what “intravenous” stands for)
None of these involve “being put to sleep”, even though advertisements for “sleep dentistry” sometimes refer to oral or IV sedation. Being put to sleep is called general anaesthesia, or GA for short.