The History bit: I have always had a terrible phobia about going to the dentist which dates back to my time in primary school in the 1970s when we were sent to the health board dentist from school without any parental knowledge or permission.
My teeth have been crooked since my early teens (once the incisors grew). I have always hated them, but due to partly financial reasons but mainly fear I hadn't done anything about them other than gripe
My bottom teeth are OK, it's the top front 6 (social six?) which were all over the place due to overcrowding.
In early 2006 my colleague in work who sat opposite me at the time was approaching 40 and decided that he was going to get his own crooked teeth sorted once and for all. All year long I was following his journey through the various appointments, records, adjustments etc with envy. Last Christmas I decided that seeing as I was going to be 40 myself this year that at last I would take that step and follow in my friends footsteps. Now we have the same dentist and orthodontist and compare notes all the time. There are only 2 orthodontists in our town and the one I am going to deals with a lot of adults. I knew of several people who had been to him over the years so was quite happy to go to him also... besides he has a lovely Scottish accent
The Journey Begins: All Christmas long I told anyone what would listen that I was going to get braces (so that I would have to go through with it!) and I rang to make an appointment asap. Earliest appt I could get was Feb 14. At that appt ortho took a few quick photos and put them up on his Mac and discussed what could be done. It was not nice looking at my teeth in glorious techicolour where each tooth was about 3 inches high!!! I had always thought my teeth were about the worst there is, but surprisingly he told me that my problem is one of the easiest to fix with the most visually gratifying results.
He did give me the option of surgery if I was really aiming for perfection, but I had already told him initially that I just wanted to improve the look of the teeth. I did not want to go the surgery route unless it was necessary and he agreed that in my position he probably wouldn't either.
Records Visit: 2nd appt was on 28 Feb for records visit. Lots and lots of photos and x-rays taken. The moulds were fine, I had been dreading those a bit but it was easy as pie and was less than a minute each for top and bottom. They told me it would be like yogurt and I thought then it was going to be messy, but to me it seemed more like very soft Play-Doh.
I had a 3rd visit on March 30. More looking at my teeth from every angle on his Mac. Funnily while I had always known my teeth were crooked I had never really looked at them from a side profile. I was shocked to discover how much my front 2 teeth were angled out, it looked like they were at a 45degree angle when it should be nearly 90! He also had the mould of my teeth (that would make a nice souvenir when this journey is done!).
I needed to have my 2 upper first bicuspids extracted to create a bit of space. I have a 9mm overjet which also is to be corrected, the extrated teeth should give enough room to reduce this to 3mm. He is going to fit upper braces first, lowers later on and then elastics. Appt made to fit braces on May 25 (only reason for delay was first my holidays and then his). He said it didn't matter if the extractions were before or after the fitting of braces, luckily I got an appt with the dentist for 9 May.
Extractions: 9 May 2007: This was the only part of the journey that I was really dreading, but for the first time in my life I went up that dentists stairs without wanting to cry
My long held phobia has gone!! I want to do this so much that I appear to have overcome that fear I always had. I still wasn't looking forward to it of course, but at least I wasn't a trembling shaking wreck. Things have obviously come on a lot since I last had an extraction in the 1980s. I was in and out of that place in exactly 22 minutes with both teeth extracted. I was delighted that she could do the 2 together, I wasn't sure if they would do that. The part I used to always hate was the injections not the actual procedure, but I literally didn't feel a thing. The hardest part was walking from the dental practice back to my car as I was aware of the packing material in my mouth. I just kept thinking " please don't let me meet anyone I know" as I wouldn't have been able to speak.
I kept up my salt rinses from extractions until about 3 weeks after getting braced (just in case!).
there! He'll do, he's the right colour anyway). I have managed to download 1 solitary photo to imageshack, but it keeps crashing when I tried the 2nd. I'll get back to it tomorrow. 
I'm gonna have a nice lunch first this time. I'll be back folks.......
I had a sandwich at morning break just in case and off I headed for my 12 noon appt. I was amazed at how quick it was, the etchant does taste icky alright, but it wasn't for long and I knew in advance and tried to keep my tounge out of the way. I was boring and wouldn't go for coloured ligs (ortho suggested purple) so I got grey.
The photo above was actually taken on 10 Aug when I was about 11 weeks in braces.
). 
The skin looked dead (it was actually but I was afraid to poke at it too much as I didn't know what if anything was under).
) and it came off in a strip, scalloped shape and all where teeth are! It was OK though, normal skin was underneath, but it did freak me a bit. I had read a lot of things here and was prepared for lots of things that never happened (and a few that did) but this was new to me. 
) so this was only taken mid Jan before next adjustment.
, umm, 8 months ago! It was the new pink that caught her attention I think, so it's true, people really don't notice half the time!!!!