I've been lurking for awhile, and soaking up all the great advice here.
The info I found on this site helped so much with everything- I'm sure glad you're here.
Like so many others I have always disliked my crooked teeth, my brother got the braces since his were worse and my parents couldn't afford braces for two of us.
So now I am 45 and sporting new ceramic braces and some very uncomfortable bands on my molars. I thought the spacer elastics were uncomfortable at first, but I miss them now... my poor tongue. I am employing the good advice found here and using wax like there is no tomorrow. I got the molar bands on yesterday, I had upper brackets two weeks ago and yesterday I also got the upper archwire, but only attached to three teeth for now. I feel like I have a frisbee in the front of my mouth- it is a bit hard to close my lips smoothly! The rest of the wire is on top of the brackets with two little bends over the canines. Bulky. I will also get lower braces as my treatment progresses.
I have a wire on the roof of my mouth attached to the molar bands, and next week I will get a lower one too, but it goes just behind the teeth. It makes me talk a little funny on the "s" sounds, but I will learn. I was supposed to get the lower one yesterday too, but the lab made it the wrong size. I think I am actually happier with that- I can get used to it a little at a time. It's a lot of hardware.
Eating is the big challenge now. My teeth don't hurt too much (it was much worse last week when they fit my molar bands- very tight teeth!). The problem is eating with the mouth sore on my tongue and trying not to create more sores. Arrgh. I never realized how much the tongue moves as you chew. And my cheeks...! I get frustrated and tired of it and I stop eating after a bit- I suppose it is built in portion control. I am eating soft foods, and trying to be creative about it.
My three daughters are also undergoing ortho treatment. They are doing quite well- they got all their archwires and headgear last week. I didn't want to be the only one in the family with crooked teeth- lucky hubby has straight teeth already. At least we can all commiserate. The eldest (12) has ceramics like I do, and the twins (10) have metal and are very proud of their colours!
This has gotten too long. I just wanted to introduce us and say hello and thanks for the advice.
new here, newly braced too
Moderator: bbsadmin
im the mother of twins too mine are three, as far as eating goes your mouth will get better trust me...this is my last week in braces i get them off next friday may the 4 but good luck with your treatment..oh try taking smaller bites of food until you get use to them 
Hello! Glad you joined in on this great site. I'm a 44 year old female and have had braces myself for the past 4 1/2 months. The first week takes some adjusting, but it definately gets better with time. In fact, you will notice changes with the first week or two. It's quite amazing. I also did a lot of reading on this site, and finally signed in as of maybe two weeks ago. Keep applying that wax! 
thanks for the welcome!
Things are improving already- the pain in my tongue is less, but then I am not snacking. I'm also going thru a lot of wax, and doing salt water rinses. I tried an old remedy my Mom taught me many years ago- put alum on a wet Qtip and apply that to the sore. Leave it for a minute and rinse. It stings and tastes brutal, but it feels better. I was going to tory the hydrogen peroxide, but got put off by the warning label that states it has harmful fumes...? So I figured I'd try the alum- usually I use it on canker sores but brae sores will do.