It was something that I should have done in my teenage years but somehow had managed to put it off for years with excuses. I'm turning 25 in December and decided to take the plunge when I realised that I did not want to live with the regret of not getting braces.
I have a class 1 bimaxillary potrusion and crossbite with overcrowding on top and slight overcrowding on the bottom arch. As you probably would have guessed, my ortho recommended 4 bicuspid removal. When I mentioned that I had a fear of face thinning, she provided me with the option to have a trial of 6 months with the braces on and if she has no spaces to move my teeth, I would have to get all 4 bis extracted (she was quite adamant that the potrusion would get worst after the alignment). Nevertheless, I went ahead with the extraction and am now wondering if I should have just waited and see:( Owh well, nothing I can do about it now.
I think I went the whole pre-braces route:P Extractions and spacers. I probably am one of the lucky few who had no issues with my spacers aside from a slight annoyance of having something stuck between my teeth. No painkillers so far and I've been on a soft diet since the spacers were in which makes this the eighth day (Had spacers in for 5 days) that I have had nothing but chocolate milk and porridge...
So....yeap...that's about the beginning of my braces journey
It's only been 3 days in but I really can't wait to see improvement! Thanks for reading!
Don't be nervous, it will be over before you know it. For me it didn't really hurt that much. Just felt immense pressure for the first two days. I talked a lot at work yesterday so I've developed a canker sore on my inner bottom lip. I'm using a lot of wax right now, truly god sent in situations like this. I have a class 1 bimaxillary protrusion so it's not really obvious from the front, only from the side. 
Gives me incentive to keep mine on (currently in the "what was I thinking" patch, I'm sure it will pass). 
