What Emily said - although there is IV conscious sedation too. It's what I had as a teenager when I had all four impacted wisdom teeth out at once, and it's what my very phobic DH's dentist uses. You're awake for the whole procedure but you have no memory of it afterward. The dentist is specially trained and certified in anaesthesia, and there's an EKG and probably other monitoring (I only know about the EKG because they had to shave DH's chest ). Is it as safe as being in a hospital, probably not, but (1) I doubt if there even are any hospitals that do routine periodontal work, and (2) as Emily said, the risk of letting your teeth go is much greater.