Even though my smile isn't "that bad" (as people have told me for yeeeeears now), it has bothered me since I started losing my baby teeth! The very first tooth I lost came in crooked and caused all of my other teeth on the bottom row to become crowded. I have wanted braces for years, but the time (and insurance coverage) never seemed to be right. Luckily, things change! Thus...
I had spacers inserted August 26th and didn't see what all the fuss was about. These were supposed to be the worst part of braces? Hah! A little bit of time would drastically change my opinion once I realized how evil spacers truly are. My teeth are very tight and the technician had a lot of trouble inserting them between my teeth. In fact, I think this difficulty is why one of the spacers snapped and popped out later that night. In a panic, I called the office and left a weird freaked-out message. Unfortunately, since this was Friday night, I did not hear back from someone until Monday morning. The woman who called me back said it was "fine" and I shouldn't worry about it. Turns out this was far from "fine" when I was getting molar bands put on, but we will get to that later.
My teeth were sore because of spacers for almost the entirety of the week I had them on. I also hated the feeling of chewing food with rubber bands in my mouth. I was so relieved to get the spacers out...of course that's when the fun really began.
Looking back now, I was so scared that I do not remember every step of the banding process which occurred on September 2nd. I recall a blur of bad tastes, blue light, and those stupid metal molar bands...oh, and did I mention I was wearing shield glasses the whole time? At least I looked cool while being terrified.
Now those pesky molar bands...I have to go back in 3 weeks and get them replaced on the left side of my mouth. Even after having the spacers, my teeth were still incredibly tight, so the technician and I had to work together in a combination of biting and manual pressing to get them to fit over my teeth. She kept telling me "pushpushpushPUSH" while placing the bands...very odd. I thought I was at the orthodontist not Labor and Delivery?? The end result is that the metal is a bit crumply and I can feel it when I bite down. She consulted with the orthodontist because she "wasn't happy" with the end result, but he felt that if I was okay with it, we would leave the bands in for a little while to make more room. After my teeth space out a bit more, the molar bands can be replaced. I hope this process is not that bad because the whole glue and band removal thing makes me pretty nervous.
I decided to go with ceramic on top and metal on the bottom. Oh, and I have two power chains on the bottom row. This isn't to close up gaps, so I think they are being used to pull my teeth back to make more room? Not sure.
The first day post braces was absolutely BRUTAL. I found myself wondering what I had gotten into. Fortunately, this forum really helped ease my mind. I definitely have a more positive attitude and I look forward to documenting my journey. Thanks for reading!!
I too am hoping that one day I will look back and laugh about my experiences this first week and the next and the next....you get the picture! hehehe
And having re-examined these pictures, I hate those orange ligs...gross. 
I can't imagine them looking much better than they already do. Lookin' good, girlie!
