Fear and anxiety are some of the major causes of avoidance of dental care. Options for treatment include psychotherapy, hypnosis, general anesthesia, anti-anxiety medications and avoidance. Laser dentistry with its minimal noise and vibration can eliminate or reduce anxiety in many patients. The fact that we can do many laser procedures without anesthetic injections also reduces patient anxiety .
For many years Dr.Shiffman has had much success with Nitrous Oxide analgesia on its own, or in combination with oral anti-anxiety medications such as Valium or Xanax . Children and adults react very well to carefully administered Nitrous Oxide.
Nitrous oxide was first isolated in 1772 by Joseph Priestly and had it’s first medical use in 1800 by Humphry Davis.  It wasn’t until 1844 that Horace Wells a practicing dentist first used it with his dental patients. Current Nitrous oxide analgesia machines are very safe and control the levels of Oxygen and Nitrous Oxide to keep the balance in safe ranges. Dr. Shiffman has been using Nitrous Oxide (N2O ) with his patients for many years and has successfully controlled their anxiety and created a warm comfortable environment at his Boynton Beach based Laser Dental Center.
