Braces certainly have changed over the years. I had braces back in the late 1970s, and they were awful! I had metal braces complete with headgear, that wrapped around my head and hooked into brackets at the back of my mouth. Of course it had to be worn at all times, even to school. I even have formal school pictures taken of me while wearing the dreaded headgear.
I looked for a picture of me in the headgear, but luckily I seem to have destroyed them all! However I did find a snapshot of my brother in his, and from my point of view an ugly picture of my brother is much better than an ugly picture of me, so here it is!
In addition to making me look awful the braces were very painful too. I remember quite well how much it hurt to take the headgear on and off. So when I was told that my oldest needed braces I was pleased to learn headgear wasn’t used anymore. But she still had metal brackets on her teeth, and they certainly were noticeable.