Two different dentists, two different cities, 10 years apart, and neither was sure why I didn’t get high after inhaling laughing gas. It could have been too little nitrogen or even my genetic code. Maybe I was psychologically unprepared to be elevated to a new height!
It happened some years ago when at my dentist for a tooth-filling. The subject of laughing gas came up. He said, “Why don’t you give it a try. You won’t feel any feel pain and you’ll be very relaxed at the same time.” I hesitated as I had heard tales of people undergoing laughing gas and making complete fools of themselves and the dentist overhearing this gibberish without having sworn patient confidentiality. I understand they said the most bizarre things, such as, “Can I come to your house for a sleepover”, or “I’m going to grab my husband and make mad passionate love as soon as I get home”, and “This stuff is a helluva lot better than pot”. However, I went for it. I supposedly was to drift into sheer ecstasy but unfortunately couldn’t think of anything sexy or titillating, only the sad shape my car was in. I questioned the dentist’s ineffectiveness about why it didn’t work but he didn’t have an answer for me. I have been frozen from an explanation ever since.
It was only the other week when I was at my current dentist for a check-up. I brought up my sub-standard experience with laughing gas. I must have struck a chord that caught his attention as he sang like a canary freed from a coal mine. He said,” The inhalation of nitrous oxide and oxygen represents the most ‘ideal’ clinical sedative.” It seems that during his dentistry career he taught the class to dental students, so I gather he would be an expert. Apparently, many years before, nitrous oxide, better known as ‘laughing gas’ was discovered to be a party drug that induced those who inhaled it to lose control, slip into fits and become languorous and dreamy-like.
In 1844, a dentist named Horace Wells noticed a friend who had been gassed, stumble into an object and badly hurt his leg without feeling even a twinge of pain. Dental procedures at the time were excruciating, and Wells began performing surgery with nitrous oxide almost at once. Without the laughing gas a patient facing a tooth extraction might need four or five beers or a hypnotist before getting the courage to climb into the chair. Without fully understanding the whole kit and caboodle, it became acceptable for medicinal use. What a difference a hundred or so years make. If I had access to psychoactive hallucinogens like that in my teens and twenties, I could have sailed through any distresses with a not-give-a dam look on my face. What I do realize now is that dentists are too secretive about their goodies!
Yesterday I spoke with a friend near Cobden who told me of his experience, “I started feeling warm all over. I sort of remembered the dentist telling me that this is going to be a ‘Three Pina Colada Cleaning’. I saw him put away the needle, not needed now. I seriously didn’t feel anything. I was already under a nice buzz from the N20 and sunk back into the chair so relaxed. I began fantasizing about exotic resorts in Jamaica.” He added wistfully, “I wanted to stay in that dental chair, can you believe it!”
Today, we know that nitrous oxide (N2O) on its own can only safely be used for short periods of time but that it’s safer to use for longer periods of time if the oxygen (O2) is increased. Hence, the “laughing gas” used now contains at least 30 percent oxygen, prohibited from going any lower. Generally, the mix is about 50 percent oxygen to 50 percent nitrous oxide or even more oxygen. My dentist showed me his equipment for giving a gas dosage and pointed out the lock mechanism. It seems four escalating levels of sedation can be experienced; tingling in the limbs, warm sensations, a feeling of euphoria and floating in space. Thankfully, laughing gas has no hangover effect only minutes after the pleasure is cut off. The patient is perfectively safe to then drive home.
Heavy or sustained use of N2O inactivates vitamin B12 that could result in numbness in the fingers or worse. It doesn’t appear to result in dependence though. Considering the generally modest use of N2O and its relative safety, there are few legal measures imposed. Recreational users generally use 8 gram containers of nitrous oxide “whippets”, which are used to fill balloons or whipped cream dispensers. The gas is then inhaled. This is a must procedure because nitrous oxide is very cold when it decompresses on exit from a canister. Inhalation directly from a tank can cause frostbite of the larynx.
I am considering having laughing gas once again. I’m impatient to feel that euphoria as others have described it. The last time I experienced ecstasy of that magnitude was when the Blue Jays won the World Series back to back in the 90’s.
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