ANESTHESIA TANK

ca.1900

X1969.18.09 a-i

This ornate nitrous oxide gasometer, manufactured by Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Co. in New York, was used by Marysville dentist John Vincent Cole at the turn of the twentieth century and is believed to be the first of its kind in Montana. One of the challenges of dentistry at that time was the lack of effective and safe anesthesia. Prior to the use of nitrous oxide, an injection of a cocaine solution was sometimes used to numb a dental patient's gums before oral surgery; alternatively, the patient was sedated with chloroform. This tin and chrome anesthesia tank stands over five feet high and is designed to provide a consistent pressure of nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. The gasometer was an improvement upon the original method of delivery, via balloons filled with the gas, because it allowed the oral surgeon to deliver a fairly precise amount of the anesthesia.