Laughing gas / gas and air / Entonox / nitrous oxide

[Sarah Tee]

G'day folks,

At my last dental appointment, I unexpectedly had a bad reaction after being injected with local anesthetic. First time this has happened to me, so a bit of a surprise.

It wasn't serious, but I began shaking involuntarily, like a dog on fireworks night, which meant the dentist couldn't work on me. (I think she was worried I was going to have a heart attack or something, but it wasn't that bad. The actual problem was that you don't want to be drilling teeth on someone who can't keep still!)

Anyway, I plan to ask for adrenaline-free injections for next time. Is that right?

The dentist also suggested I might do better on laughing gas. Any known problems for that with dysautonomia? I searched the usual sources but didn't find anything.

Cheers,
Sarah

[Sarah Tee]

Hmm, I did find a discussion on Reddit in the dysautonomia group in which a few people said they had difficulties tolerating laughing gas:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dysautonomia/comments/ift03e/anyone_have_a_bad_experience_with_laughing_gas/

I am just coming off my first episode of BPPV so I will have to be wary that I may be more prone to vomiting at the moment, especially in combination with lying down/back in the dentist's chair. Still, my appt is some time away so hopefully I'll be recovered by then.

Maybe the "no adrenaline" anesthetic injections are my best option.

[GasconAlex]

A possibility - if you can find a dentist that will do this - is no injections or anaesthetic at all. I used to have (unfortunately she retired) a great local dentist that used a clove oil based nerve killer. She was able to stop as soon as the tooth became sensitive, apply the nerve killer then put on a temporary filling. The next week she continued until the work was done. This worked even for root canal work and crowns. The disadvantage is that it took multiple appointments to finish any work.

I don't have a bad response to dental injections they just don't work for me. In my case they inject the maximum authorised and wait and at best I get partial numbing. This is a problem for my current dentist as he is too busy to accept the multiple appointments for less money (doesn't get to charge for the injection)

[MikeO]

Watching this thread. Not sure how many ways there is to skin a cat here.

I never had problems with my heart rate jumping but rather my blood pressure going thru the roof to the point were i had to jump hoops to get a note from my doc before the Dentist would do any work.

 

[MomtoGiuliana]

This happened to me also.  In the US you can ask for anesthetic that is epinephrine free--which I have requested since my bad experience.  Apparently it doesn't last as long so is best for shorter procedures.  I have had it used and it's worked well.

[Sarah Tee]

On 2/24/2023 at 9:08 PM, GasconAlex said:

A possibility - if you can find a dentist that will do this - is no injections or anaesthetic at all. I used to have (unfortunately she retired) a great local dentist that used a clove oil based nerve killer. She was able to stop as soon as the tooth became sensitive, apply the nerve killer then put on a temporary filling. The next week she continued until the work was done. This worked even for root canal work and crowns. The disadvantage is that it took multiple appointments to finish any work.

I don't have a bad response to dental injections they just don't work for me. In my case they inject the maximum authorised and wait and at best I get partial numbing. This is a problem for my current dentist as he is too busy to accept the multiple appointments for less money (doesn't get to charge for the injection)

Oh, that’s interesting. I will look into that as an option.

For maybe ten years I have had a bit of a problem with injections working somewhat slowly and I often needed an extra dose.

Sorry to hear you only get partial numbing.

[Sarah Tee]

On 2/25/2023 at 1:07 AM, MomtoGiuliana said:

This happened to me also.  In the US you can ask for anesthetic that is epinephrine free--which I have requested since my bad experience.  Apparently it doesn't last as long so is best for shorter procedures.  I have had it used and it's worked well.

Thank you, I will try that. I only need a small filling right now, so that could work for now.

I think epinephrine/adrenaline is the most likely thing to have given me the shakes but I’m going to ask my autonomic specialist. Luckily I have an appointment with him soon, before the dentist.

[Sarah Tee]

On 2/25/2023 at 12:31 AM, MikeO said:

Watching this thread. Not sure how many ways there is to skin a cat here.

I never had problems with my heart rate jumping but rather my blood pressure going thru the roof to the point were i had to jump hoops to get a note from my doc before the Dentist would do any work.

 

My dentist didn’t check my blood pressure or heart rate. (She probably should have before sending me home. Hmm.)

My heart didn’t feel like it was racing but I imagine my blood pressure was high.

Did you do okay after you got a note from your doctor?

I do tend to quake internally at the dentist, but it wasn’t visible until now. Maybe it was just because I feel generally weak.

I wish someone would invent a way to rejuvenate tooth enamel!

[MikeO]

7 minutes ago, Sarah Tee said:

Did you do okay after you got a note from your doctor?

Did just fine. Sure my blood pressure gets high because i am such a panze when it comes to dental work.

[Sarah Tee]

15 hours ago, MikeO said:

Did just fine. Sure my blood pressure gets high because i am such a panze when it comes to dental work.

Me too :-)