Some people have a huge fear of going to the doctor’s office. Depending on the extent of this fear, dentists may use sedative drugs to relieve the anxiety of a patient during various dental procedures. While people often assume this medication puts patients to sleep, usually a patient is awake during the dental procedure. The exceptions are patients who undergo general anesthesia for pain. The types of sedative treatments include inhaled minimal sedative drugs (laughing gas), oral sedatives, IV moderate sedatives, and general anesthesia. No matter which form of sedation a patient receives, he will also receive local anesthetic at the site in the mouth at which the dentist will be working.