)I have delayed braces for a few years due to financial and other reasons. I visited three orthodontists and liked the last one. After years of delay, I embark on the metallic road!
This forum seems like the perfect one to chronicle my humble narrative. 
Less than a week ago, I got 6 spacers put in. In one place, three spacers snapped as the orthodontist was attempting to place them. The first time was extremely painful; I winced and was about to push his hand away when he said, "You can wince, but don't bite me!" Apparently this is a real thing and it really happens.
Oh yes, and about two weeks ago I got my upper premolars extracted.
I have heard a lot of horror stories about adverse profile changes with bicuspid extractions, but I believe in my case that they are probably the only alternative to surgery, which I want to avoid for various reasons. I have a 12mm overjet, deep bite, and crowded lower teeth. One of my lower premolars lies almost horizontally. No extractions have been done on the lower jaw. The extractions went quite smoothly. My dentist gave me about 5 shots on each side. I was seriously numbed up. The extractions themselves didn't take that long, and I didn't even know the teeth were out. There was a lot of tugging, though. It was like the dentist and my head were playing tug of war - I had to strain really hard to keep my head from being pulled in the direction of the dentist's force. After I left the office, this deep, scary, aching pain began to set in. Just began. So I quickly took 800 mg prescription ibuprofen (my own prescription was acetaminophen with codeine but I didn't get it from the pharmacy) and the pain was gone almost immediately. I didn't eat anything the whole day.
Oh yeah - right after I left the office after the extractions, I realized that I couldn't close my right eye. I was so scared! If I tried to normally blink, only my left eye would close! Because of not closing, the right eye began to tear up with irritation. I had to manually squeeze it closed every few minutes. I Googled this and heard mentions of nerve damage, paresthesia, etc. The paranoid person in me went into overdrive. I took a short, exhausted nap then and when I woke up I could blink both eyes.
The things we take for granted! The orthodontist estimated 24 months, metal upper and lower braces, and I believe a couple of TADs as well! He said he wouldn't use an expander as I was an adult and my palatal sutures were already fused, but I have read numerous studies showing successful slow palatal expansion in adults and am planning on persuading him to use an expander on me! I have a very narrow upper palate for which SARPE was suggested (but vehemently declined!).
The banding appointment is scheduled for this Wednesday in the morning, two nights and a day from now! For some strange reason, I'm not jittery yet! Because I've been wanting braces for so, SO long, I'm almost looking forward to the pain, as it will mean that I've finally begun to move my teeth.
(I know I'll take this back when the pain actually sets in!)
Wow, eight months. It feels like I got them a month or two ago. 
)
My ortho is trying to pull back the upper premolars first before he starts to bring back the four front teeth, not sure why. 
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