General anesthesia is a treatment with certain medicines that puts you into a deep sleep so you do not feel pain during surgery. When you receive these medicines, you will not be aware of what is happening around you.
There are a variety of different ways that a person can be sedated. There are also different levels of sedation. Sedation is described as a way of altering a patient’s state of consciousness. There is a mild form which usually is used to reduce anxiety. This can be done as simple as breathing Nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas or by taking a medication such as Valium. Using Nitrous Oxide is a wonderful method of relaxation because it only works while the patient is inhaling it. The patient leaves the office feeling just as they did when they came in and they can return to school immediately. On very small children (2-3 years old), laughing gas is not has effective because they don’t always breathe through their noses. Valium is an effective drug to use on small children to reduce anxiety because parents can put it in a spoonful of applesauce, give it to the child, and let it work, and the child has no control over the effectiveness. Because these drugs are mild, they can also be used in combination with each other.