# Is Nitrous Oxide (Laughing Gas) actually an anesthetic, rather than a "relaxant"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nitrous-oxide-laughing-gas-actually-an-anesthetic-rather-than-a-relaxant/817689>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 10, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nitrous-oxide-laughing-gas-actually-an-anesthetic-rather-than-a-relaxant/817689 "2018-07-10T23:48:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nitrous-oxide-laughing-gas-actually-an-anesthetic-rather-than-a-relaxant/817689/41 "2018-07-13T05:21:44Z")

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> [@rsat3acr](#):
>
> Dentist here. Mostly correct. Novocaine was replaced very quickly when lidocaine came on the market in the late 40’s. Sort of like CD’s replacing LP’s in a few years after their introduction. Since then Septocaine has replaced Lidocaine as the most used dental anesthetic. Septo came on the market in Europe in the mid 70’s IIRC and is something like 90% of the market there. Came to the US about 15 years ago and I believe about 60% of the market now. Great stuff, I haven’t used anything else in a dozen or so years.
> 
> TMI Septocaine is more lipidophilic them other local anesthetics. Bonds to the fatty covering of the nerve better thus getting faster and more profound anesthesia.

I wonder why Novocain has become so embedded as the generic term when it so quickly fell out of use?

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