Summary
Nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas”, is an inhalation anesthetic used as conscious sedation and is accepted as a safe an effective technique, but as any other technique, it carries risks and possible side effects for pediatric patients. This Scoping Review intends to describe and analyze the findings of the existing evidence in the literature regarding nitrous oxide’s safety and possible adverse effects in pediatric dentistry. To achieve this goal, this review was carried out in accordance with PRISMA guideline for Scoping Review. Three search strategies were made that contained the keywords in the PubMed biomedical database, selecting articles that met the inclusion criteria. The selected articles were analyzed and described in an Excel spreadsheet, prepared by the research group. In all the analyzed articles, a high rate was observed, in terms of patient’s sedation and dental treatments carried out successfully. A low incidence of side effects was observed in all the studies, these being mainly nausea, dizziness and vomits, without any serious side effects being reported. Conscious sedation with nitrous oxide in pediatric dentistry is a safe inhalation sedation technique with few adverse effects, if performed correctly.
KEY WORDS: nitrous oxide, pediatric dentistry, safety.
How to cite this article
TORRES LEFIÁN, C.; SANDOVAL GORIGOYTÍA, J. & MONSALVE REYES, V. Nitrous oxide’s safety as conscious sedation in pediatric dentistry, Scoping Review. Int. J. Odontostomat., 18(3):305-310, 2024.
