A new procedure could help people who need treatment on their teeth but who are afraid of getting emergency dentistry.

Some professionals are now introducing so-called sleep dentistry in order to pacify their patients and make it easier for them to deal with their time in the chair, the Daily Planet Dispatch reports.

It involves the use of strong sedatives and local anaesthetics to create a dreamlike state that the patient will barely even remember afterwards.

However, it does not have the long recovery time or cause the inconvenience that a general anaesthetic would, because it wears off like a local.

Although many people have praised this as a way of reducing dental anxiety, some professionals have expressed concerns that improperly trained individuals may begin to administer the drugs.

Australia will introduce regulations governing sleep dentistry in July 2011 to get over this problem.

In November 2010, scientists at Kings College, Brunel University and the London South Bank University invented a device which cancels out the noise of the dentist's drill.