Day 1: they're in

I am a 52-year-old British female. Yesterday, I had braces fitted: little white ceramic brackets glued to my upper and lower teeth by my orthodontist who then clipped in white 'memory wires' held in place with tiny elastic bands.
As a child, my top teeth were sticking out so the 'school dentist' whipped out the upper first premolars and I wore a brace attached to a plate that I took out at night. My lower teeth were crowded even then, so I'm not sure why they weren't dealt with at the same time - and my parents can't remember. Consequently, over the years, my upper teeth have moved again as they have adjusted to fit over the lower ones.

Recently, I have been getting more and more fed up of picking out pips, bits of peppercorn and sundry other pieces of food out from the gap behind the lower tooth that's been forced downwards and in front of the others.

The Cost
So why didn't I do this before? Some time ago a friend of mine said that if she won the lottery, the first thing she'd do was to get her teeth straightened. We both imagined that it would a very expensive procedure, especially when you consider how much it costs for a new crown or root canal treatment.

Having moved house to a new town a while back I registered with a new dentist and the subject of straightening my crooked teeth came up. "Oh no" she said, "it's not that expensive. A couple of thousand pounds." In fact, I've paid less than £100 for the two teeth extractions and then, including the initial consultation, around £3,000 for the orthodontic treatment which will take 18 to 24 months. I had imagined it being a lot more than that. I may well pay extra later for tooth whitening and maybe building up one or two teeth where they've been ground down.

Preparation
Before the braces could be fitted, dentist removed the two second premolars in my lower jaw to make room for the crooked teeth to straighten out. I still have gaps in my upper jaw from the childhood extractions.

Ouch! Despite being really, really careful, I managed to get dry socket in the first extraction site. A week of sleeping propped up on several pillows helped, taking pain killers every two hours (alternating ibuprofen and paracetamol) and finally a visit to the emergency dentist (as mine was on holiday!) which resulted in a prescription for amoxicillin. Three weeks after the first extraction (and a week before the braces went on) I had the second tooth out. Fortunately, that one did not get infected and is healing up fine.

The fitting
Just before I had my braces fitted I had a session with the dental nurse who went through how to look after my teeth once the braces were on. She also showed me a horrible picture - as as warning - of some beautifully straight teeth that hadn't been looked after properly and were decaying at the gums. Yuck.

I was also warned that in a few hours of the fitting I would start to feel some discomfort as the wire - which 'wants' to return to its normal shape - pushes and pulls my teeth.

What she didn't tell me was that I wouldn't be able to chew! The brackets on my lower teeth stop my jaw from closing as far as it used to, so that my molars don't meet!

Dinner time
Filled pasta for supper with a tomato sauce, squashed against the roof of my mouth before swallowing. Slow, but I managed.

To bed, then, and so far no pain, apart from where the end of the wire has caught my cheek. But I've stuck on some of the wax I was given for this purpose and will make an appointment to get the wire trimmed.