Is nitrous oxide safe for children?
Nitrous oxide is the most widely used and best studied form of sedation in pediatric dentistry, and it is safe for healthy children. Your child stays awake, can talk and answer questions the whole time, and breathes plain oxygen for five minutes at the end, which clears it completely.
Children go back to school the same day and eat normally. The most common side effect is mild nausea, which is why we ask for a light meal beforehand rather than an empty stomach.
Nitrous is not appropriate for every child. We will not use it with a blocked nose, certain respiratory conditions, recent middle ear surgery, or some medication combinations, so we go through health history before every sedation appointment rather than just the first one.
What should my child eat before a nitrous appointment?
A light meal two to three hours before. Toast, yogurt, a banana, or a small sandwich is right. A large meal immediately beforehand and a completely empty stomach both raise the chance of nausea.
What are the fasting instructions for oral conscious sedation?
These are different and stricter, and getting them wrong means we reschedule.
- Nothing to eat after midnight the night before.
- Clear liquids only, meaning water, apple juice, or clear Pedialyte, up to two hours before the appointment time. No milk, no formula, no juice with pulp.
- Nothing at all in the two hours before the appointment.
- Regular medications as normal with a small sip of water, unless we have told you otherwise in writing.
You will get these on paper at the visit where sedation is scheduled, and we call the day before to confirm you have them. If your child eats anything outside these instructions, call us before you drive over. We will move the appointment. We will not proceed, and we would rather have that conversation on the phone than in the parking lot.
Sedation appointments are not scheduled on Fridays.
What are the levels of sedation?
Nitrous oxide. Inhaled, mild, wears off in minutes, child fully awake. Suits most anxious children and most longer appointments. Available every day we are open.
Oral conscious sedation. A liquid medication given about 30 minutes before treatment. Your child is drowsy and may not remember much of the appointment but still breathes on their own and responds to voice. Requires the fasting instructions above, a driver, and a quiet afternoon at home afterward. Dr. Julia holds the permit for this and monitors continuously with pulse oximetry.
General anesthesia. Fully asleep, done at Cedarfield Regional’s outpatient surgery center rather than here, with a pediatric anesthesiologist. This is the right answer for very young children with extensive decay, for some children with special healthcare needs, and for children for whom the other two options have genuinely been tried and did not work. It is scheduled through the hospital and takes several weeks to arrange.
How do we decide which one?
We talk about it, and the conversation includes cost, because the three options are priced very differently and insurance treats them very differently.
We do not push sedation. A large number of children who arrive expecting to need it turn out not to, particularly once they have been through one uneventful visit. The opposite is also true, and there is no prize for getting through a filling white-knuckled at six years old.
Last reviewed July 2026 by Brightburrow clinical staff.