# When the Dentist Gives You Nitrous Oxide **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093 "2009-09-22T15:25:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/1 "2009-09-22T15:25:36Z")
When the dentist hooks you up to the mask and the tank of N2O, does she mix it with O2 and/or ambient air, or are you just getting pure N2O? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/2 "2009-09-22T15:30:38Z")
It’s a mix, usually 50/50 of N2O and O2. Pure nitrous oxide would kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/3 "2009-09-22T15:42:28Z")
Yeah, nitrous oxide doesn’t provide you with any oxygen to keep you alive, so you would suffocate. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/4 "2009-09-22T15:43:29Z")
There’s a gauge on the machine that tells them how much % of nitrous to oxygen you are getting, and they can turn it up or down. Since pure N2O would kill you, I suspect the machine doesn’t let them go all the way to 100%. The last time I had nitrous I think they went up to 70% before they believed me that nitrous doesn’t do anything for me, and just went on with the procedure. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/5 "2009-09-22T15:50:58Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > There’s a gauge on the machine that tells them how much % of nitrous to oxygen you are getting, and they can turn it up or down. So she has a tank of N2O and a tank of O2 and mixes them together? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/6 "2009-09-22T15:52:34Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Pure nitrous oxide would kill you. Yeah, that’s what I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/7 "2009-09-22T15:54:59Z")
I first started getting nitrous about 1973. The dentist was on an upper floor in an office building. I remember leaving one session when I found myself at the water fountain halfway down the hallway without remembering how I got there. Then I was at the elevator without any interval. Fortunately, hitting the open air cleared my head completely. My current dentist told me that they used a lot less of a mixture in those days. (Actually, he said that they didn’t use any mixture. That contradicts what’s been said here. Since nitrous parties go back to its discovery in the early 19th century when they breathed the stuff to get high without any oxygen mix small doses might not be that deadly.) Today’s levels are optimized to need less recovery. I can testify that there is a huge difference between the way I felt then and the way I feel now during a session. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/8 "2009-09-22T16:10:16Z")
My dentist gives me a shot of oxygen after he turns off the nitrous, which clears my head almost immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/9 "2009-09-22T16:10:43Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Since nitrous parties go back to its discovery in the early 19th century when they breathed the stuff to get high without any oxygen mix small doses might not be that deadly Nitrous Oxide doesn’t actually kill you itself, the way you die is from lack of O2. That is why dentists use a mixture in order to supply enough O2 to keep you alive (atmospheric O2 is 28%). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/10 "2009-09-22T16:28:31Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > So she has a tank of N2O and a tank of O2 and mixes them together? [Here’s a page](http://icourses.uthscsa.edu/courses/nitrous/equipmentpre.html) with a few pictures and short explanations about Nitrous Oxide Machines. Click on the pictures on that page to see them full size. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/11 "2009-09-22T16:31:13Z")
> [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](#): > > That is why dentists use a mixture in order to supply enough O2 to keep you alive (atmospheric O2 is 28%). You mean 21%, right? ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/12 "2009-09-22T17:02:36Z")
> [@vandal](#): > > You mean 21%, right? Yea, that’s what I mean… Guess that’s why I’m in pharmacy school, not in meteorological school ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/13 "2009-09-22T17:09:49Z")
[Early history of nitrous oxide](http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/nitrous_two/): > [@](#): > > While nobody thought to do surgical procedures with nitrous until well into the nineteenth century, great use was made of the gas recreationally. Davy himself threw parties at which the attendees inhaled copious amounts of the giggly stuff. He managed to have quite a few celebrities at these gatherings, including the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey and Peter Roget of Roget’s Thesaurus fame. As the late pharmacologist Dr. David R. Nagle remarked, this group “was a group of gay spirits who were more interested in seeking ‘pleasurable effects’ – getting drunk – than in scientific research.” The group found inhaling nitrous oxide to be a little less hazardous than alcohol and with fewer side effects. Far too giddy with the idea of a cheap buzz, Davy contemplated abandoning science altogether: > > Davy apparently thought of marketing the new gas, for he calculated that he could supply it in bags at a lower price than was then being charged for alcoholic beverages – and alcohol at the end of the eighteenth century was notoriously cheap. [Our respectable ancestors.](http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/images/laughinggas.html) [Current-day descendents](http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=120&p=6848&more=1&c=1). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/14 "2009-09-22T17:14:09Z")
> [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](#): > > Nitrous Oxide doesn’t actually kill you itself, the way you die is from lack of O2. That is why dentists use a mixture in order to supply enough O2 to keep you alive (atmospheric O2 is 28%). Technically speaking, yes, it’s an asphyxiant, not a poison (unlike, say, carbon monoxide). But to say that it doesn’t kill you (“it’s the lack of O2”) is like saying that drowning doesn’t kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Mood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/15 "2009-09-23T10:30:53Z")
In the UK where it’s an option for women in childbirth it’s called “gas and air”. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/16 "2009-09-23T14:05:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I first started getting nitrous about 1973. The dentist was on an upper floor in an office building. I remember leaving one session when I found myself at the water fountain halfway down the hallway without remembering how I got there. Then I was at the elevator without any interval. Fortunately, hitting the open air cleared my head completely. > > My current dentist told me that they used a lot less of a mixture in those days. (Actually, he said that they didn’t use any mixture. That contradicts what’s been said here. Since nitrous parties go back to its discovery in the early 19th century when they breathed the stuff to get high without any oxygen mix small doses might not be that deadly.) Today’s levels are optimized to need less recovery. > > I can testify that there is a huge difference between the way I felt then and the way I feel now during a session. I can remember being given enough nitrous back in the early 70s to make me hallucinate - everything looked like a cartoon [solid flat colors and everything had black outlines, like a coloring book] and sounds did a funky sort of reverb like the keyboard section of Baba Oreiley. Very strange … ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/17 "2009-09-23T15:10:01Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I can remember being given enough nitrous back in the early 70s to make me hallucinate - everything looked like a cartoon [solid flat colors and everything had black outlines, like a coloring book] and sounds did a funky sort of reverb like the keyboard section of Baba Oreiley. Very strange … Yes, yes, yes to the sounds, though I never got the visual effects. I always thought of it as having the sounds swirling down a drain. They seemed to repeat themselves several times while being swallowed. Kept up for the entire procedure. Never happens now. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/18 "2009-09-23T17:16:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Yes, yes, yes to the sounds I’ve experienced the sounds, too, particularly when I’ve [del]done whippits[/del] accidentally misused N2O cartridges intended for culinary use. I believe the scientific term is phlanging (not sure on the spelling). ---
**Author:** ![Baggins111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@Baggins111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baggins111)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/19 "2009-09-24T02:15:10Z")
I can remember getting laughing gas from my dentist when I was _kid!_ I remember staring at the ceiling and hearing _Song Sung Blue_ by Neil Diamond. But it was the best damned song I’d ever heard. I didn’t really see anything other than the ceiling panels seemed to be Right. There. Probably set the stage for the long strange trip it’s been since then… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/20 "2009-09-24T04:10:13Z")
My first experience with nitrous was in the mid 70’s. I remember feeling calm and peaceful. The dentist had earphones to pipe in music that simply filled my head…then came the drill. The drill was a bit of a buzzkill and I was mightly annoyed so they upped the dose. Good times, good times. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093.md?page=2)