We made exactly the same decision on Saturday morning. DD is nearly 6 months and was struggling to learn to self-settle because of the dummy issue. I don't regret using it as it was an absolute godsend between 2 and 6 months, but we felt that it was time to help her learn to sleep on her own. In fact, we have been following the advice in the 'What worked for us' thread.
Well, Saturday night was AWFUL. It took about two and a half hours for her to go to sleep, with quite a lot of screaming. Mostly angry rather than upset, but still dreadful to listen to. We patted, shushed, reassured, picked up, cuddled, fed, sang etc. Everything except the dummy, which was of course what she wanted. She eventually rolled on to her side and went to sleep at about 8.45 and we collapsed as well. Consequently, we were dreading last night.
However... we did everything the same as we normally do. Bath, feed, story, cuddle, bed, story, music etc. We made sure she was really calm when she went into her cot and then sat down and waited for the screaming. She rolled around for about 15 minutes, squeaking occasionally, and then went to sleep ON HER OWN, with no intervention!! Amazing.
This may be coincidence, luck or both, but I just wanted to reassure you that it is possible to take the dummy away at this age successfully! She has also slept much better the last two nights (after getting herself to sleep) and we've felt happier leaving her when she grumbles because we're not worried the dummy has fallen out, so (everything crossed!) it seems to be going well. Going to try and tackle naps today, but not too hopeful about getting her to go down in her cot. May cheat and use the pram/car!
Tonight may be different again, but so far following Nectarina's excellent advice and removing the dummy seems to be working for us!!
Hope that gives you a bit of reassurance and that she went to sleep eventually last night! Good luck, x