I'm Ricardo (Richard in english) from Portugal and I've been braced for one week.
My history in the "orthodontics" world is just too long. At the age of 10 (1997) my dentist (I've had more than 4 since then) told me I needed to use dental braces, and then I went to the clinic she told me to go and I wasn't able to do the molds because I was always throwing up with those things inside me mouth!! I had to wait more than 7 months for special molds to come (smaller ones) and then I had my molds done. Two or three weeks later, I was told to go to the clinic and put my dental bracers on (it was a removable one, so I don't know if "dental bracer" is the right name) and so did I. I remember going every thursday there for some kind of "control" on the bracers. I spent a year (plus or less) with those things inside my mouth (on the jaw and on the bite) and one day, the doctor called me and my mother to go to the clinic and she said that those bracers were futile for me because my "face" (she was talking about my jaw and bite) was still growing up. She said I had to wait til I turned 18 and then I would begin my treatment with a surgery. I felt happy at the time because I was going to remove that "sesame".
So I waited 6 years and my teeth were going stranger day by day. I went to another dentistry when I was 16 or 17 and there I was told that the kind of treatment I had to do was very expensive and could only be done in a private hospital. The price was like 13.000 € or something like that. My mom joked with the doctor and said: "Yes,I have to sell a bit of my house for that."
We gave up on any plans for a treatment and in that moment I was very dissapointed. I thought my teeth were going to be like that forever.
A few months later (late 2005) we had the idea to go to the university of dental medicine in Lisbon and I had an appointement with a professor. He explained me everything I had to do and said that this kind of treatment in Portugal could only be done in a private hospital. He told me to return there some weeks later and when I returned he told me this could be done on a public hospital. I don't know how things changed so fast. Still today I'm wondering what happened. On a week this kind of treatment cannot be done, and in the week after it can. Very strange.
And so I had to wait one more year! Just read why: In January 2006 I went to one more appointment with the doc and he told me that the preparations for a treatment could only begin in July because he was gong out on a congress or something like that. While that, he gave me the contact of the surgeon that is going to "cut" me (in 2008/09 probably) and the plans for the surgery. He wanted the surgeon to read the plans and accept to do the job. These men were really nice chaps. Everything was going fine.
So, in August 2006 I went to the university of dental medicine and he told me I was going to begin the treatment in 2007! More waiting! I was used to that. It takes a lot of patience to live in Portugal. Believe me.
Anyway, the professors (three around me) took photos of my mouth,head and wrist (don't know why) x-rays,some molds, and put those spacers between my back teeth.
And now here I am! I have dental bracers for a week and I'm not feeling bad. In fact, I'm happy for having them. You guys may think I'm mad, but for someone who waited so many years, the aches they cause me are nothing!
I'm pissed off only by the fact that I can't eat a nice rare steak, or some french fries. Looks like my teeth are going to fall when I bite something. I hope that sensation passes quick. I miss some good food. I'm sick of eating baby food!!
Hugs and kisses!
quite a journey u had!
I'm getting the same feeling about food now, but easy does it, eh? Eventually we'll be eating just about everything. Take care 
