In December of 1844, Horace Wells, a Hartford dentist, found that nitrous oxide could be administered to patients to relieve pain during medical and dental procedures. Wells had always been concerned about the amount of pain his patients experienced. He then attended a "laughing gas" demonstration done by Gardner Colton at Union Hall in Hartford, Connecticut with his wife Elizabeth Wales (Gifford, "Horace Wells Discovers Pain-Free Dentistry"). Horace Wells examined the demonstration closely and observed that one of the audience members inhaled the nitrous oxide then soon after hurt his leg but he seemed to not notice the injury. Wells' confronted the audience member and confirmed that he had not noticed the injury until then. Horace Wells then decided to experiment with nitrous oxide and got a tooth extraction while under nitrous oxide. Wells' invention is now known as anesthesia and has changed the lives of citizens in our community and beyond, especially for those involved in tragic disasters such as the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944. Wells' biggest accomplishment was using nitrous oxide to help reduce the amount of pain people go through during medical and dental procedures.