I have a blog (listed in my signature) but it has pictures of me on it, so I'll just post some of the text here and you all can check out the pics if you care. I'll likely update it more than I update here, though.
Hi! I'm Lauren, a 26-year-old professional photographer in the Washington, DC area. On top of my wedding and portrait photography work, most of my money comes from working full-time in a position for a nonprofit association.
The story of my teeth seems somewhat simple. I have a genetic defect of sorts that has left me with one too few teeth on the top and one too many on the bottom.
These are the teeth that are affected:
So, what does this mean for me? It means that neither my top nor my bottom teeth line up in the center. This is more visible on my top teeth, which only has one "front tooth". Pictures on my blog.
I also have an open bite, meaning only my back two teeth touch. When I bite down, none of the rest of my teeth touch. This isn't noticeable in pictures, as it appears generally that my teeth touch - but they don't.
Over time, this has gotten worse, most recently lending itself to a gap between my two front teeth that began quickly opening last September and by December was quite large. it's hard to tell from straight on, but I could have fit a nickel between the two teeth.
In December, I visited the dentist for the first time in over 10 years and had the teeth bonded together, the gap closed, 8 fillings, one almost-root canal, and a chip I've had since I was 8 closed.
Last week, due to pressure and pain coming from one of my wisdom teeth on the bottom (it's crowded down there! The ones on top, due to the extra space, came in with no problem), I had all of my wisdom teeth removed. I immediately began feeling shifting in my teeth.
After encouragement from my dentist and years of feeling unhappy smiling in pictures, I'm finally getting braces!
Knowing that I was finally ready to look into braces was half the battle for me. I've been avoiding it for years. In college, I refused to smile in pictures with my teeth. Refused. Literally, there's not a single picture of me between the ages of probably 12 and 22 with teeth in the picture.
Eventually, I met Brian, my now husband. On New Years Eve, December 31 2005, my friend Sarah encouraged me to smile with my teeth for pictures. "You have to prepare for your wedding! You don't want to look unhappy in your wedding pictures!", she said. So, I obliged, and got over that huge mental block.
However, the teeth stayed bad, and I continued to only post "at a distance" and "good angle" photos of myself online for friends to see. I view my teeth as my worst physical flaw, and one that really gets to me. I never realized how lucky I was that my worst physical flaw is one that is so (relatively) easy to fix - with braces!
Right before having my wisdom teeth removed, my husband mentioned that if I wanted, I could have an orthodontist consult. I had been talking about it on and off for a year and had obsessively researched, but had never actually had a consult.
I wanted invisilign, and if not, then lingual.
I had a consultation with Dr. Neal Kravitz, who I chose despite him being 45 minutes from my house, because he is a specialist in adult braces and cares about the aesthetics of adult orthodontics, having been an adult in braces himself while he was still a dental GP. My decision to go with him was solidified when I found out he's one of the top lingual braces providers in the country, VERY well respected among his peers, and teaches orthodontics method and research across the country.
His website: http://www.kravitzorthodontics.com/
I also liked his bedside manner and the fact that he is always reachable and answers every question with patience.
My consult was great. He went over every single aspect of my teeth after taking a number of pictures, and went over my options. It looked like this:
My 1st choice: Invisilign: Not an option due to my open bite and compicated extra/missing teeth situation.
My 2nd choice: Linguals: An option on the top; not on the bottom (fine with me as I don't smile with my bottom teeth). $8500 for the combo. 18-20 months treatment.
My 3rd choice: Ceramic: My best option, as it'd be easier for my ortho to fit a fake tooth "flapper" on the top until I can get a permanent fake there. $6500
My 4th choice: Metal: like ceramic, an option, but I didn't want these due to their high visibility.
I was pretty bummed not to be able to get Invisilign but really battled between the Linguals and the Ceramic. The price difference meant a lot to me and some linguals provide longer lasting lisping effects than "regular" front braces. But, at my age, and as I'm constantlyl meeting with clients and their parents regarding hiring me for their wedding photography, I was concerned with looking like a "12 year old" or people judging me.
In the long run, though, my doctor made it easy on me. He promised that if the ceramics bothered me a ton, I could always "upgrade" to the linguals and he'd eat the cost of the ceramics. This helped my decision a lot - because I know myself, and likely I'll be fine with the ceramics. The mental decision to get braces is the hardest part for me. Plus, the easier treatment and financial benefits won me over.
So, I'm paying $6500 on a payment plan over the next 20 months.
I'd imagine I'll start some time in the next few weeks, but first we're waiting to hear if my husband gets offered a new job - wish him good luck!
I can't say I've ever heard of missing/extra teeth before. That's pretty rare! I checked out your blog and, no, it's not noticable in those pictures but, from the scanned pics from your ortho, I see it now. Just curious...will you be getting an implant for the missing tooth on the top? and will they be extracting the extra one on the bottom?
That's too bad about the surprise getting spoiled but I'm sure you'll enjoy your other plans. 
.