All of us know someone who has been lucky enough to never have experienced braces. At any given time in the U.S., there are 4 MILLION people with braces, according to the American Association of Orthodontics; that is a lot of metal in a lot of mouths. It's painful and annoying, especially when your treatment is taking longer than it's supposed to. But the day those little metal prisons are removed, you feel as free as a butterfly.

1. Your mouth feels incredibly weird and surprisingly light

2.You keep running your tongue over your teeth to find the brackets.

3. You realize you can FINALLY bite into a sandwich and not get the bread stuck in your brackets.

4. You don't have to deal with these things to floss anymore.

5. And you don't have to worry about breaking a bracket by biting into an apple (which you were told not to do, but did anyway).

6. You still have those tiny rubber bands lying around the house.

7. As well as random packets of wax that you used to use in order to save your mouths from the tiny metal hooks on the brackets.

8. YOU CAN EAT POPCORN WITHOUT WORRY!

9. AND CARAMEL APPLES!

10. AND GUM!

11. But you still have to wear a retainer every night.

12. That isn't half as bad as having springs in your mouth.

13. And brushing your teeth is easier.

14. But there these weird spots on your teeth.

15. And callouses on your mouth.

16. You're less likely to find random food stuck between your teeth.

17. You don't have to have constant X-rays taken of your mouth.

18. And you don't have to pick a color for the braces anymore.

19. No more dealing with those weird plastic mouth-spreaders.

20. Your smile looks like a Hollywood star's.