Having teeth taken out, help?!?!

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Your orthodontist will have taken an x-ray, so will know at what stage of growth your adult teeth are, it is most common for them to ensure that you will not be left with a gap, so I would assume your adult teeth will be allowed to grow normally, I would check with your orthodontist on this though as its obviously a concern for you, he will be able to explain the timeline for you.

As for the actual treatment, you will be given a local anaesthetic directly into your gums, I would be a little surprised if you had all 4 teeth taken out at once though, probably 2 at a time, if not, fine, there is the immediate benefit that once it's done, it's done! The local anaesthetic is delivered, yes, by a needle, a dentist needle is extremely fine, I won't lie, it will sting, however, at the time, I would suggest taking deep breaths, saying to yourself "this is the only bit where I feel anything, its over in a few seconds" - counting your breaths is a good way to control fears, and as it is over in less than a minute, you should find it surprisingly fine.. I can promise it won't be as bad as you are imagining, our imagination is our worst enemy for things like this..
So, a few seconds, probably 3 counted deep breaths of stinging, by a needle you won't be able to see anyway, for each tooth... You will then be left for a few minutes whilst the anaesthetic does its work, this gives you a little time to get yourself together and calm yourself down... After this, the easy bit, your mouth will start to feel really numb, kinda weird, your lips will feel swollen and puffy (ask for a mirror if you wish, its so weird that you feel swollen but don't look it! :-P ) and if you tap your lips you will realise how little you can now feel, just a little pulling sensation around the lips but nothing on the actual site itself. From here, its fairly simply, your orthodontist will check with you that you cannot feel anything, again you will feel him around the area, but not where the tooth that is going to be taken out at. The actual extraction shouldn't take too long, the milk teeth will be very easy, the adult teeth may take a couple of minutes tops, but, you won't feel anything.

It takes around an hour or so for the anaesthetic to wear off, during this time drinking/eating will be near to impossible, but after extractions I wouldn't recommend eating anything too solid anyway. Have some of your favourite ice cream around to cheer you up later, ice cream is a great cure all (oh yes, as an adult you will have the occasional time where ice cream can be your best friend :) ), at most you may need some paracetamol or ibuprofen, but your orthodontist will give you a guide on that. One tip with the paracetamol, if your mouth is feeling sore afterwards, have some calpol around, just work out how many spoons you will need to get an adult dose, it will be about 4, but easier than getting down tablets if you're not feeling quite right.

By the next day, you'll be fine, all memories will fade and you'll be trying to figure out what colour braces you want put in (loads of colours available now - love the multi-coloured ones, wish they'd had them when I was young!).

Good luck, and try not to worry about it...

don't worry ! I hate needles and i had to have 7 teeth out before i had my braces , i think the injections hurt less then when you have vaccinations in your arm and stuff (: , after the injections you cant feel a thing just gently kind of tugging in your mouth :L and 2 of the teeth i had out were milk teeth (one either side) and your adult teeth wont grow there , the gap will close up when your other teeth our pushed into place (:

i had braces (: