I am sooo happy
that i found this site! I am a 29 year old college advisor and just got my braces on June 8, 2006 ( almost a week..hooray!). I know I'm no spring chicken, but due to financial issues as a child braces were not an option. I have gone through some pretty hard preparations for me barces..even though i may not be too familair with all the dental tems, let me tell you what i have endured.I had 5 cavaties filled,thought i need a root canal ( thank God i didn't need it) and just got a cap, had all 4 wisdom teeth extracted, had a premolar extracted, and wore an expander for 6 months..WHOOO
So now here I am, one week into my brace wearing phase. The dentist said that i would need to have them for at least a year and a 1/2. I hope he is right and i don't have to wear them any more time. The biggest probem is that i have an incisor ( I think that's what it's called) that somewhat sticks out on top, somewhat like "vampire" teeth. I think the expander helped alot with the positioning of my teeth and can't wait to see changes with the braces.My first week so far has been ok...but the fisrt three days were miserable
! Need less to say i ate alot of mashed patatoes and jello. Even though my teeth are a bit sore, this is nothing comapred to the first three days ( thank God for Tylenol extra ). So anyway I'm happy to be here and any tipe or advise along the way is well appreciated 
People usually fail when they are on the verge of sucess.So give as much care to the end, as to the begining.
...sorry as i stated , i am new to all this. 
during that time). At this time i am able to eat pretty much everything, ofcourse i am very careful at all times. I chew gum, eat chips and even eat corn...yup corn on the cob ( granted it's at a very slow pace but i manage to do so. I haven't had any brackets come off ( thank God) or anything else come loose. I have stuck with the color light blue for my ligatures and I am currently wearing two elastic bands ( one on each side). Everything thing seems to be doing well, all teeth seem to be aligning very well. The gap where the tooth was pulled had been closed already!
In the begining, the denist removed all 4 wisdom teeth and one pre-molar on my upper left side...and now he wants to remove the other pre-molar on the upper right side and two teeth on the bottom (because he feels that is still over crowding). I am going in this upcoming Friday for the removal.
