Why have I decided to get adult braces?

I've been umming and ah-ing for some time now as to whether to take the plunge and get adult braces fitted. I have a noticeable gap between my front teeth which some people find sexy, some say it's lucky and others just hate it! I feel it's been part of my identity for such a long time that it was hard to come to a decision but as it's my ambition to become a television presenter I decided that ultimately, braces were the right route to take.

The Consultation

I decided to visit a number of practices before making a decision and I have to say, I was very disappointed in a couple of them who charged me £70 just to talk to them and I was in and out within 15 minutes! I decided to go with Winning Smiles as I was so impressed with the amount of time and care the dentist took over the consultation, going through all the different options for gap closure, showing me what it would look like and he didn't charge me a penny. My options were:

Invisalign - Although Invisalign is the most subtle type of braces, it is not always a suitable option for closing a diastema (gap) and the treatment takes around 2 years. 

Veneers - This would involve filing down some of the teeth and adding porcelain veneers in a slightly larger size than my natural teeth to close the gap. My dentist was not happy to do this as I am only in my 20s and he didn't want to damage perfectly healthy teeth, which I definitely respect him for.

Traditional Braces - The best option for straightening or bite correction but also the most obvious as it involves wearing silver train tracks.

6 month smile - I decided this was the best option for me because of the short time-scale and the fact that the wire and brackets are white so don't show as much as traditional braces. I'm a teacher so not being able to see them much is high on my list of priorities, but I also love the fact that 2 of the 6 months will be the summer holidays so I won't have to see any students for a third of the treatment!

Costs

Although my dentist wanted me to have both arches (which I can understand, as he is trying to create the perfect smile), I decided just to go for the top arch. This is because I thought that having both would make me more self-conscious, would be more likely to affect my speech and would probably lengthen the amount of time I would need to wear braces. Also, you can't really see the bottom set when I smile or talk! However, he did convince me that I should have the 2 teeth either side of my front teeth built up with a tooth-coloured composite as they are a bit smaller than my other teeth. So the costs are as follows:

Brace on top arch: £1,900

Brace on top and bottom (which I didn't opt for): £2,400

Composite bonding on 2 teeth: £700

So my total cost is £2,600 and would normally include free whitening but we decided I didn't need it, particularly as I was in a hurry to get the braces on before the summer holidays.

The braces will be ready in 2 weeks, so in the meantime, here is a 'before' picture of my teeth: