“What happens when you go under dental anesthesia?”

Dental anesthesia is different, if you get root canal done the medication is injected inside your gums, if you get the dental implants, you will receive intravenous sedation, some dental procedures require general anesthesia.

Most places that administer "dental anesthesia" administer either IV or oral sedatives. Depending on the dentist, he may prescribe a pill for you to take prior to the procedure or they may insert an IV and administer IV medications. Some practices may administer nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in combination with the above. For more extensive dental work, you may require to be intubated and given a general anesthetic.

Usually you get "laughing gas", so you are relaxed and feel no pain.

It really depends on the patient, the procedure you need, and the agreement between the anesthesiologist and the dentist. That's unfortunately a very broad answer, but you can receive anything from mild sedation to where you are responsive and may or may not recall events all the way up to general anesthesia with a breathing tube and a breathing machine.

The best approach is to ask your dentist if it is an option , and what would be involved. Most Dental offices are not set up for general anesthesia which means you would have somewhere between light and heavy sedation. Most Dental offices I go to just want heavy IV sedation. You're going to be completely snoring and drooling on yourself while they work on your mouth, but no breathing tube is involved. I also go to one or two offices that typically want general anesthesia with a breathing tube. That's much more unusual.

Inhaled nitrous oxide and intravenous sedation such as versed and fentanyl can be used alone or in combination to achieve a level of anesthesia sufficient to perform dental surgery.