I will contact you one or two days before the scheduled dental procedure to find out about any health problems your child may have, review the eating and drinking instructions, and discuss the details of his or her personalized anesthesia plan. At the time of the dental appointment, the parent usually walks the child to the procedure area. The child sits in the parent’s lap and goes to sleep by taking a few breaths of a bubble gum flavored gas while I tell a simple story. After the parent returns to the waiting area, I painlessly start a child sized intravenous line, attach the monitoring equipment, and deepen the anesthetic to the required level. For patients with disabilities or those who cannot cooperate, I may start the anesthesia while still in the waiting area by injecting relaxing medicine into your child’s arm. This feels like a vaccination. After 3 minutes, your child will be drowsy and will not recall anything further. At the end of the procedure, the dentist will meet you in the waiting area and discuss what was done. I will continue monitoring your child, and reunite the two of you as soon as he or she begins to wake up. Although your child may be grumpy for a little while, there are no long-term side effects.