I have been viewing this site for over a year now and have finally registered and decided to tell my story. I am amazed at how informative and supportive the patrons of this site are!
I am 26 years old, and have had braces on since June of 2005 (17 months). I have always disliked my smile, and for the most part it is a consequence of my own actions.
First, I sucked my thumb until I was about 10, and that caused my teeth to crowd (especially the uppers). Second, I was a pretty heavy smoker in my late teens-early 20s. That has left my teeth a color that I will refer to as "very off white"!
Because of these things I never took proper care of my teeth and they became a hunting ground for cavities, thus they are filling-laden. After I graduated HS in 1998 I joined the army for 6 years as a Blackhawk (helicopter) mechanic/crewchief. I did this for college money (which I am happily in my third year!!) and was also hoping to my smile fixed. Because of the places I was stationed (overseas- Korea and Germany), I never really had the opportunity. Fortunately they did pull a couple annoying wisdom teeth, and many fillings. About a year after I got out I decided to get braces...
Here they are when I first got an expander put in. As you can see, my uppers are severely crowded, with a tooth hidding behind the canine. I ended up wearing it for 2 months prior to getting braced, and for the first 14 months of treatment! I'm not sure why my ortho did it this way, but I got used to it and figured that wearing it longer couldn't hurt. I was surprised that it did work, considering my age.
This is about 4 months into being braced, and you can see where my ortho has activated a spring to make space for that wayward tooth!
9 months in- that space is almost finished...and for some reason my lips are chapped like crazy! They tied an elastic band from the tooth to the wire to help pull it out, but I'm not sure if that really had much effect. When they finally tied it into the wire, it hurt like crazy for a few days, but it moved itself right into place!
Here is how they are looking 15 months in (2 months ago). For the past few months I have been using elastics to correct an open bite. My left side has mostly closed, the left is a little slower...
From what my ortho says, I won't be braced for to much longer, but I am in no hurry to get them off...I waited 25 years to get 'em on, I want them to look and function as well as possible! After that, of course I will be getting them whitened. I think my work here is done!! Happy Thanksgiving to all, and best of wishes to you all on your journey!!
Tim
Great to see your progress, I'm in process of ortho treatment myself and also am creating me a new webpage to host my pictures, my forums and much more about my treatment at 
