Explaining tomorrow's dental procedure to my DS (Time sensitive) Help!!!!

[newone]

Hi

We found out late this afternoon that my almost 4 yr old DS has an abcess in a tooth and it will be pulled tomorrow morning.

:-(

We are going to the oral surgeon in the am and he will drink some medicine (valium-like ) and then they will pull the tooth out and clean up the gum, etc.

They say he won't remember anything and will be very groggy but I want to make sure this is not very traumatic....

He knows that we are going back tomorrow and that he will drink "a juice" and then the dr will clean the tooth area to make the pain go away. It was a very stressful day and we decided not to be too specific about the procedure since he (we) will not have that much time to process all the information.

Now I'm thinking that pulling a tooth (one of his front teeth to make matters worse) is quite dramatic and that we need to tell him before the procedure that they will take it out. It is a part of his body afterall  :(

Can anyone suggest a good gentle way to have this conversation and to explain what will happen in the least scary way possible?

Thanks!

[marsupial-mom]

My son chipped his tooth before he was even 2. Our options were to get a large filling or have it pulled. Leaving it chipped risked infection and was painful. Our dentist thought it was safer to do the procedure without any drugs other than Tylenol and we agreed.

I just had a couple conversations with my son about what was going to happen and I explained that he might be scared but he was going to be ok. I told him I would be there with him - and I made sure to stay with him. The main things were: this is necessary, temporary, and you can do it.

It was very scary! He was strapped to a board to keep him still and protect his fingers and arms from the equipment. He screamed; I cried. But we got through it. I hugged him right after, told him I was so proud of him, gave him stickers and tried to be upbeat. He seemed to recover almost immediately.

And now his tooth looks and works great, no signs of infection. He's not a big fan of the dentist but he puts up with it for the stickers.