Give advantages and disadvantages of nitrous oxide
Answers
Answer:
ADVANTAGES OF NITROUS OXIDE
1. Rapid induction - rapid recovery
2. Non irritating to respiratory mucosa
3. Minimum of nausea and vomiting
4. Non explosive and nonflammable
5. Analgesia about equal to 100 mg of Demerol
6. Dosage quickly titered to patient's needs
7. Some loss of time awareness
8. Few unfavorable drug interactions
9. Patient more receptive to suggestion
10. The drug can be recovered rapidly from the patient.
C. Disadvantages of Nitrous Oxide
While most dentists feel the advantages of N2O far out weigh the disadvantages, no agent or technique is perfect. Principle disadvantages of nitrous oxide are:
1) additional expensive equipment requiring some maintenance and the expense of purchasing gases;
2) the nasal mask often interfering with treatment on the anterior maxillary teeth. Occasionally, patients object to the mask on their nose.
3) Patients receiving N2O require constant monitoring dividing the dentist's attention.
4) There is a slight increased risk of nausea.
5) Nitrous oxide is a weak agent, preventing effectiveness in extremely apprehensive patients. Continued use of verbal iatrosedation by the operator may overcome this.
6) Studies have shown that while safe for the patients at regular intervals, chronic exposure can result in a health risk to personnel. Discussion on this fact will be discussed later.