I got Dr. Niemtzow's acupuncture protocol and had my acupuncturist use it with absolutely no results. However, I'm more skeptical of Niemtzow than I am of Acupuncture for Dry mouth. MDAnderson has done testing as has Sloan-Kettering and the Mayo clinic and all have shown positive results. Others have, as well. One medical test was double blind using real acupuncture sites and phoney ones and the patients using real sites did significantly better than the other group, thus disproving the "placebo' affect theory.

More testing needs to be done but given that all the scientific tests say that there are no negative effects from acupuncture, it's worth a shot.

The problem, as I see it, is that there are several different protocols that have been used so there is no standardization or optimal protocol yet.

The acupuncturist that I used says that Acupuncture should be specifically designed for the individual, that one size doesn't fit all as everybody is different. Yeah, well...I agree, to some degree but....

I have tried Acupuncture for two different medical issues, in the past, unsuccessfully, so I was very skeptical about its use for dry mouth. However, having seen the number of scientific tests that confirm its effectiveness I'm continuing to explore its use. I will be using a protocol used by a husband and wife acupuncture group in Maryland and found in "The Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice" (www.thejcdp.com) Nov 15, 2004, in an article by Wang, et. al., several dentists. I'm continuing to research protocols to see what are the latest and most effective.

Stage 3-4 Squamous BOT diagnosed 3/19/12
Molars removed 3/29/12
(Cisplatin) inpatient: 4/11/12-4/16/12; 5/2/12-5/9/12; 5/29/12-6/4/12
Feeding tube: 8/9/12-11/21/12
Radiation 8/10/12-8/29/12
Chemo 1X/week 8/10/12-8/22/12
Last PET/CT clear: 9/17/13