I had braces for only a year (my teeth straightened super fast) and now I have an invisible retainer I put on...I don't know if I could help you that much because the people I went to were like...braces fanatics...instead of them doing those gooey things on my teeth, they just took pictures from inside my mouth I wish I had those pictures...but yea...I hated them when I had them but now I smile cool...(look at my profile pic)