Nitrous Oxide

Safe Use of Nitrous Oxide

For nitrous oxide, an employer needs to monitor the work environment if the employer or any staff member believes individual staff may be exposed to concentrations in excess of 50 ppm, which is a time-weighted average permissible exposure limit (PEL) for an eight-hour day.  Effective scavenging equipment and periodic inspection of equipment should keep nitrous oxide exposures to within acceptable limits. 

Recommendations for the safe use of nitrous oxide in the dental office are included in two articles published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.  These articles may be accessed online at jada.ada.org/

• ADA, Nitrous Oxide in the Dental Office, J American Dental Association, March 1997.

• Howard W, Nitrous Oxide in the Dental Environment: Assessing the Risk, Reducing the Exposure, J American Dental Association, March 1997.  Note: a correction was published in June 1997, noting that the colors in the bar chart showing use of nitrous oxide by pediatric dentists and all dentists were reversed.

The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published in 1996 two pamphlets that are available online:

• Control of Nitrous Oxide in Dental Operatories (www.cdc.gov/niosh/nitoxide.html)
• NIOSH Alert:  Controlling Exposures to Nitrous Oxide During Anesthetic Administration (www.cdc.gov/niosh/noxidalr.html)

 

Posted July 2007