To start my story, let me first say that from the age of 10 until the age of 19 I had horribly crooked teeth. I have seen some people say (on here) that if they knew their teeth wouldn't be absolutely perfect post-braces they wouldn't have gotten them. I am quite the opposite. Any amount of difference to my teeth would have made me happy.
Picture pre-braces:
(You have to excuse the icky quality, I had to take the earliest pix with a webcam because I was away at college)
I got my braces on August 29, 2003 (but technically, got brackets on August 15). The bottom wire & brackets went on in Feb of 2004. My orthodontist decided that my bottom teeth would not require as much time to straighten as the top so he wasn't in a rush to brace them.
Basically, up until now my progress has been VERY quick. I have spent most of the last 19 or so months in power chains. The first few times I had them put on, the pain was horrible but I soon got used to it. I almost got excited when I would hear I was getting them on again because I knew in an hour or so I could look at my teeth and they would be completely moved.
Yes, painful but worth every minute! In less than a month, this is what my teeth looked like:
Today I had my surgery, which I will write about in another reply to this post since it's more up to date