I'm 28yrs old and I've always had dental problems.
When I was around 8years old I needed plates (never ended up getting one) and I had gap teeth on the top midline. In addition, I was terrified of the dentist and subsequently cleaning my teeth! Very bizarre now that I think back to it. It resulted in me having silver fillings on some of my molars.
Fast forward to adulthood: I have a snaggletooth with my top left canine, there is no more gap tooth, and my top arch midline is way off to the left resulting in my front tooth being embarrassingly placed in the centre. I also have a cross bite.
I contemplated on braces for a few years but this year I really wanted to take care of myself for my future dental health, as things can only get worse if I left it as it was. I saw one orthodontist felt he wasn't very professional, and saw another orthodontist who was great. The treatment involved extraction of 4 premolars and braces for 2 years. I really hesitated at this point because 1) I didn't want health teeth removed, 2) Friends who had braces didn't think this was necessary. After a few weeks of "researching", asking, and crying, I trusted my orthodontist and went ahead. I concluded I needed these extractions because x-rays showed my teeth were protruded (& I think this ruled out palate expanders), my wisdom teeth had grown out straight, and my molars on the top arch are larger, so there was literally no room.
Pre-braces 1: I visited their dentist for a clean and inspection of my teeth. The dentist found all my fillings (on molars) were incorrectly done, and/or worn. This resulted in decay under the fillings
so I have to make another appointment with her before braces. Tooth extractions went ahead under local anaesthetic. My right side came out without trouble, but my left side... ohhh my gosh. My bottom left side was starting to get feeling again during premolar extraction, so they had to stop and jab. Then my top left premolar wouldn't come out, and a piece broke (not sure if accidental or not, they were being hush about it for my sake but at that point I was thinking "Get out already! I'm sick of sitting here!"). Afterwards the dental assistant offered me my teeth, but I have yet to have the courage to look at them There was young teenager who had a similar procedure (I think?) before me, she was crying hysterically the whole time I was getting mine done, it actually helped me overcome my anxiety, idky lol. At the end I felt fine, I drove myself home (1hr trip). 
Pre-braces 2: Dentist had to clean it out/drill and make new fillings on my molars
I'm so lucky I chose to get braces, because if I didn't, the decay wouldn't have been discovered and would have resulted in root canals. I felt like the dentist was very thorough (more than previous, as no one even asked me how old they were!), and very helping when I had all these questions. She places 8 spacers in, which was really difficult, and I wore them for a week while eating pastas. 
Brace day: Orthodontist cleaned me up a bit, removed spacers, measured my molars, then started putting stuff on. I got nickel free wires, I kinda told him last minute about my nickel allergy because it didn't occur to me until I came across this forum!
I chose teal elastics, and then the Orthodontist started putting things all together (which kinda hurt, its bearable). I didn't really feel any panadol-needing-pain, until bedtime, it was only for my slightly crooked bottom 2 middle incisors Few days later and still no noticeable pain except a pre-existing ulcer and scratching on my cheek from one bracket.I feel good about my decisions so far, and I'm glad I'm going through with it
I will try to post pics as soon as I've completed 6 posts!