Sedation is the depression of a patient's awareness to the environment and reduction of his or her responsiveness to external stimulation. Conscious sedation helps reduce anxiety, discomfort, and pain during certain procedures. This is accomplished with medications and (sometimes) local anesthesia to induce relaxation. Conscious sedation is commonly used in dentistry for people who feel anxious or panicked during complex procedures like fillings, root canals, or routine cleanings. It’s also often used during endoscopies and minor surgical procedures to relax patients and minimize discomfort. Conscious sedation is now usually referred to by medical professionals as procedural sedation and analgesia. In the past, it’s been called: sleep dentistry, twilight sleep, happy gas, laughing gas, happy air. Conscious sedation is known to be effective, but medical professionals still debate its safety and efficacy because of its effects on your breathing and heart rate. Read on to learn how exactly it works, what it feels like, and how it might be used. There are also three different stages of conscious sedation: Minimal (anxiolysis). You’re relaxed but fully conscious and responsive, Moderate. You’re sleepy and may lose consciousness, but you’re still somewhat responsive, Deep. You’ll fall asleep and be mostly unresponsive. The drugs used in conscious sedation vary based on delivery method: Oral. You’ll swallow a tablet containing a drug like diazepam (Valium) or triazolam (Halcion). Intramuscular. You’ll get a shot of benzodiazepine, such as midazolam (Versed), into a muscle, most likely in your upper arm or your butt. Intravenous. You’ll receive a line in an arm vein containing a benzodiazepine, such as midazolam (Versed) or Propofol (Diprivan). Inhalation. You’ll wear a facial mask to breathe in nitrous oxide. Sedation effects differ from person to person. The most common feelings are drowsiness and relaxation. Once the sedative takes effect, negative emotions, stress, or anxiety may also gradually disappear. You may feel a tingling sensation throughout your body, especially in your arms, legs, hands, and feet. This may be accompanied by a heaviness or sluggishness that makes it feel harder to lift or move your limbs. You may find that the world around you slows down. Your reflexes are delayed, and you may respond or react more slowly to physical stimuli or to conversation. You may even start smiling or laughing without an obvious cause. They call nitrous oxide laughing gas for a reason. Some common side effects of conscious sedation may last for a few hours after the procedure, including: drowsiness, feelings of heaviness or, sluggishness, loss of memory of what happened during the procedure (amnesia), slow reflexes, low blood pressure, headache, feeling sick. The scholar journal uses editorial manager system for maintaining quality of the whole process of manuscript submission, peer review and tracking. Journal of Surgery and Anesthesia aims to maintain a rapid editorial procedure and a rigorous peer-review system for all the submitted manuscripts. The submitted articles are peer-reviewed within 21 days of submission and the accepted articles are published immediately. Acceptance of any manuscript for publication requires approval of at least two independent reviewers and the editor. Submit manuscripts as an e-mail attachment to manuscripts@longdom.org