Is nitrous oxide at the dentist worth the cost?
Does your dentist give you a topical on the gum prior to the injection? Mine does and it helps. I haven’t had nitrous since I was a kid. I do recall just being completely stoned on it. I think my dentist used to jack that stuff up though. I too have anxiety in the chair. But not from the shots. Mine is from the drill. The sound, the feel… all evil. I would say in your case, you should go for the nitrous. It should relax you, or get you high, what have you. And if you are getting a crown, they will be doing some significant drilling to prep the tooth, which can mean some time in the chair. Good luck.
Do you have anxiety at any other time than at the dentists? Because, if so, you probably do not want nitrous. I hate the dentist too and when I finally got the nerve up to go after several years, I asked for nitrous, thinking, hey, I love nitrous! I had it in balloons back in the day and it was fun! And also, I had it during dental surgery many years ago along with a lot of other fun drugs and if those people would have gotten their fingers out of my mouth I would have been having a perfectly splendid time! Unfortunately, this time the nitrous sent me into a full blown really bad panic attack – so bad that the dentist came dashing into the room to find out why my heartbeat had gone off the scale. Then I had to leave with no dental work done. He said, “Why didn’t you tell me that you have anxiety? Nitrous is completely contraindicated for people with anxiety.” Well, he didn’t ask me and I didn’t know. Therefore, if you’re being treated for generalized anxiety or even think you may have
nthing gas/anti-anxiety drugs. Three things: 1. Your dentist is ripping you off. $90 for nitrous?!?! My dentist charges $25 for use during periodontal procedures and cleanings (mine run 1 hour 15 minutes). It’s a bigger pain to work around for something like a crown, but an extra $65 of hassle? I don’t think so. 2. Check your insurance. My insurance covers nitrous for sufficiently awful procedures, but I pay out of pocket to use it for routine procedures like cleaning. 3. Also anti-anxiety drugs are cheaper. You probably want something like Xanax (generic alprazolam) – shorter half-life than Klonopin and Valium. $13.95 at drugstore.com for 90 .5 mg tablets.
Don’t do what the straightener suggests. That is a really bad and dangerous idea. Let me put it this way, if you would rather first try a small amount of legally available nitrous oxide in the privacy of your own home where you would be able to gauge your reaction to it without the anxiety inducing stimuli of latex covered fingers and needles complicating the experience, please don’t hesitate to follow up with a request for tips on how to safely enjoy nitrous oxide.
Getting the crown on is easy, and it’s usually a second appointment. If you easily gag, it’s the first appointment where they do the upper mold that will cause problems. Last time I had this, I ended-up taking it out on my own before it had set. Something about the sensation of it setting against the upper mouth. Apparently there’s sprays the dentist can apply to numb the gag reflex, and things I’ve read has said humming helps. Personally still trying to avoid getting the crown I need because of the molds. Apparently there’s 3D imaging technology available to bypass them, but I don’t think it’s widespread yet.
