I had braces for 26 months; halloween in 4th grade through xmas in 6th grade. then i got a retainer, but i didn't fare well w/ that over the years. kept losing them. oh, and my tooth enamel was so bad that when i had the braces, i had to have the molar-type bands on ALL of my teeth, which in turn left nasty icky stains on my teeth, and those are still present on quite a few. only a few teeth look presentable these days, even after 2 professional bleach jobs and some damn expensive plastic veneers (6 of them, at $200 a f***ing tooth). and while they've shifted a little on the bottom, my teeth are mostly straight, enough to make me happy.