I had my braces on for almost 4 years in all. At first, I was excited to get them on because they were meant to help me and make my teeth straighter, but towards the end I REALLY wanted them off. Last month I was told that I was going to get my braces off in 2 weeks! So, at that appointment I got retainer impressions. The orthodontist puts a silver thing in your mouth with some pink goo on it and they have to leave it in there for about a minute. The flavor for the goo I picked was peppermint and it tasted ok, but I still didn’t like it in my mouth. About 2 weeks later I came and got my braces off! When they took off the brackets and drilled off the glue, it kind of made my teeth hurt for the day. When they finally finished, my mouth felt gummy, almost like I had no teeth. Then they did something called a Hollywood smile. A Hollywood smile is where they straighten the bottom of your teeth because they aren’t quite even. I am super happy with how my smile looks now. After having braces, I feel more confident about smiling because my teeth look so straight. Also, I took before and after pictures, here is the after one.