Did you even know there were pediatric dentists?

Well, there are, and we had to see one this morning after discovering last night that Jack had a cracked front tooth. Dr. Lau is a kind and gentle dentist who was nice enough to see us even though her office was not open today. She examined poor wailing, flailing Jack and told us that he would need...a baby root canal.

This is awful.

It involves anesthesia, a head "cradle" and being restrained in a blankety, straight-jackety thing so that the traumatized child cannot thrash around. They've asked us to refrain from giving him anything to eat or drink on the morning of the procedure, to reduce the chance that his sobbing will make him throw up. Our baby needs a root canal: probably the lowest moment in parenting so far. I don't know if we can do this. I know we have to, but how can we?

Here Aidan stares at the door to the waiting room/playroom at Dr. Lau's office -- he hears Jack's cries and is very concerned. He tries to call him on the little toy phone in the room...