DVD Player Problem

Unfortunately, I dropped my MacBook Pro on the kitchen floor recently. Miraculously, it was okay -- except I immediately heard the DVD player seizing up inside. I stuck a disc in and I can't eject it.

More problematic, I get the message: "There was an initialization error. A valid DVD drive could not be found. [-70012]"

This message comes even when I connect an external DVD drive and try to play a DVD using my USB connector (but not playing QT movies from the external drive.)

I've googled possible solutions: I've tried re-booting while tapping on the eject key, re-booting while keeping my hand on the trackpad, typing "drutil tray open" into the utility --> terminal. But nothing's helped.

I have a feeling the fall has severed the connection from the computer to the DVD drive.

Does anyone have any suggestions I can try to fix this problem - or must I take it to a repair place?

Thanks,
Dan