# Dental visits make me psychotic **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2000, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-visits-make-me-psychotic/6676 "2000-01-30T14:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2000, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-visits-make-me-psychotic/6676/21 "2000-01-31T08:11:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by puffington: > **Can** oral surgeons knock you out? I went to one recently who said that if I wanted to be knocked out for the procedure, (extraction of every tooth in my mouth) he’d have to call in an anestheseologist, which would run me about $400 extra. > > I opted instead for the $75 treatment which consisted of nitrous oxide, novacaine, and 4 powerful little pills called Ativan (generic name Lorazepam). It’s a benzo like valium or xanax, but it’s far more powerful. The combination of that and the nitrous actually gave me minor hallucinations during the operation. Pretty cool, eh? But the best part is that benzo’s seem to make time just FLY by! The three hour operation took about fifteen minutes in my head. Reference oral surgeons & “knocking out” - The IV valium thing is called conscious sedation (CS). State laws vary & individual providers training & privileging may vary as well, but yes, some oral surgeons can give conscious sedation, but there are very strict regulations about how, when, where, & with how many people assisting. If 20% of an oral surgeon’s patients need CS, it will not be cost-effective for him/her to have the space set aside for post-procedure observation/recovery, nor the staff to do the recovery on a full time basis. In that case, s/he may opt to use hospital space for procedures requiring CS, which means you pay separate bills to the hospital for staff, space, & supplies used, & to the oral surgeon performing the procedure. Or if an oral surgeon is used to doing virtually all of his/her cases without CS, s/he may not have the training required to administer CS, and would then bring in an anesthesiologist/anesthetist for the procedure. ## PS - Ativan is not necessarily any more potent than Valium or Xanax, but has a nice length of action (~ 4 hours) for most procedures, and a GREAT “side effect” of partial amnesia. You may not have been as “out” as you recall during the procedure… Sue from El Paso Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Germ\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Germ\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Germ_Boy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2000, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-visits-make-me-psychotic/6676/22 "2000-01-31T16:10:00Z")
Kelli, you post(s) have inspired some good advice. You anxiety reaction was almost certainly a reaction to the epinephrine. Epinephrine is a potent vasoconstrictor (not an Amazonian snake!) that is added to local anesthetic to make it last longer: decreased blood flow = slower metabolism of medication in the tissue. Also, concious sedation is an alternative for those of us true dentophobics. Make sure your doc has someone doing it while he/she does your teeth. Vigilant monitoring is vital to your safety and the doc can’t do teeth and sedation simultaneously. Ask for Versed (midazolam). As an anxiolytic and amnestic, it’s an anthesia standard. This stuff would calm Robin Williams! Keep us posted! BTW no more talk of pus, I promise! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-visits-make-me-psychotic/6676/23 "2000-01-31T16:44:00Z")
Locally we have dentists in a box. Haven’t tried them though. Also kids, don’t forget that dentists are genuine doctors. They went to medical school & all. Whew. * * * “I have gathered a posie of other men’s flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own.” ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-visits-make-me-psychotic/6676/24 "2000-02-01T06:51:00Z")
Kelli, I’m in Canada too and my sister can not have novocaine or her heart will stop. Any procedure she has to have done, she has to be unconscious. She has gotten on fine with it, I think it might even be covered. When I had my wisdom teeth done, I was completely knocked out (it was a horrible experience. Insurance covered 80% of the $1200.00. Good deal. If I knew where you lived I might even tell you whereabouts you could go. Call the faculty of dentistry in your area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-visits-make-me-psychotic/6676.md?page=1)