# When the Dentist Gives You Nitrous Oxide

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093>\
**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:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/21 "2009-09-24T06:15:43Z")

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I never got nitrous. I probably had five or six cavity fillings as a kid, and I always, _always_, got a large needle stuck in my mouth (I’m assuming it was lidocaine or some variant thereof.)

I feel like I missed out on something cool.

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**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 24, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-dentist-gives-you-nitrous-oxide/511093/22 "2009-09-24T12:15:19Z")

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> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> 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).

There is indeed an audio effect called [flanging;](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanging) you’d have to listen to examples of it and let us know if it’s similar to what you perceived when you were accidentally misusing N2O cartridges.

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