My periodontist did something interesting. They doped me up on a short-term sleep agent called Halcion (triazolam). It made me... forget the greater part of that morning. I was conscious, and apparently aware through the whole thing, but I literally cannot remember most of it (which kinda bugs me from a mental standpoint, although I'm glad they did it). I have bad anxiety, but that really did the trick. They gave me some nitrous as well, although I'm not exactly sure whether it did anything. They still used lidocaine as well, so I couldn't feel it. All in all, I was everything short of a general anesthetic.
I had my first year molars removed a long time ago, and they just used a local for that. Honestly, I remember it feeling kinda funny when they just sorta popped out. A sucking feeling, like when cranberries fall out of the can. I'd imagine, though, if it's broken it's going to involve a little more digging to get the root out.
You'll be glad you did, though. My front tooth was abscessing as well, and the doc had to scrape quite a bit of scarred bone tissue away in order for the bone graft to work. He said if I hadn't gotten it done in the next couple of years, the bone would likely have deteriorated too much for an implant to be possible. One thing you'll definitely want to do is use ice on the side of your face afterward. 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. It'll keep the swelling down. Otherwise, you'll look like a chipmunk for 3 days or so.
