Compressed gases are frequently used in dental clinics to benefit their patients. The gas that you may be most familiar with is nitrous oxide, sometimes referred to as laughing gas. Nitrous oxide and oxygen are combined to provide a sedative for dental treatments. Within minutes of donning the mask, nitrous oxide starts to help patients feel calmer and less worried. Nitrous oxide helps patients who have extreme anxiety while visiting the dentist, particularly young children who have acquired dental phobias or have trouble remaining still. Equipment like Viasensor g200 portable medical n2o analyzer is used by dentists in their offices for the patients.
For sedation, dental oxygen and nitrous oxide are combined. When a dentist is finished with a procedure and is prepared to lower nitrous oxide for a patient, the dentist will first cut off the flow of nitrous oxide and then, after five minutes of oxygen flow, turn off the oxygen as well. The patient's lungs' gases are balanced by the oxygen exposure, which restores their complete alertness. In case of an emergency, dentists frequently keep a portable oxygen cylinder on hand.
How do dental offices follow gas handling safety?
You probably aren't aware of the efforts being made in the background to keep you safe, but your safety at the dentist office is very essential. Utilising compressed nitrous oxide mixtures is one area of safety that your dental practise spends a lot of work on. Over 93% of dental professionals utilise local exhaust ventilation (LEV) or nasal scavenging masks to minimise unnecessary nitrous oxide exposure. This reduces the amount of nitrous oxide gas that gathers in their dental clinic. Dental practitioners should inspect their equipment or ventilation system if they start to experience negative effects from nitrous oxide exposure, such as a headache, cough, or shortness of breath.
Gas handling best practices
There are several best practices that have to be followed to handle Nitrous Oxide properly which are discussed below
- Equipment for nitrous oxide leak detection and testing
- Lowering exposure by beginning the nitrous oxide gas after putting the patient's mask
- Ongoing instruction on how to handle and dispense nitrous oxide to patients, as well as a review of the safety policies for dental offices with all staff.
- Stopping the flow of nitrous oxide gas before stopping the flow of oxygen after using gas. As a result, patients are exposed to less nitrous oxide after surgery.
- Using nitrous oxide systems together with scavenging apparatus like masks or local exhaust ventilation (LEV). By doing this, the concentration of nitrous oxide in the space is reduced.
Gas handling practices must be followed precisely by all the dental offices across the world so that the patients who visit the office are safe and secured by the gas leaks. Any unnecessary or over exposure of gases to the patients might cause a big problem with the health and the doctors will be blamed for that. So, the above best practices become vital
