Hi --

Barry was prescribed a Thera-bite by his ENT (the one who herself had HNC and has some trismus from her radiation treatment) -- she told him she had been negligent about doing the stretching exercises prescribed to her at the time and didn't want the same thing to happen to him. She really rattled his cage about getting on this up front.

So he did and started to use the Thera-bite from the beginning and still does, 8 weeks' out from treatment -- his ENT and dentist both say he will need to continue for at least another year to be sure that late scarring and fibrosis don't "creep in."

So whether it was due entirely to the Thera-bite or not, his mouth opening is the same as before treatment. At one point mid-radiation he was having a problem getting his mouth all the way open but he thinks this was inflammation and soreness as now he can open the device all the way again. He says it is a bit stiff the first stretch so he thinks that trismus could sneak up on him if he let things slide. He religiously does 7 stretches, 7 times a day for 7 seconds as the Thera-bite liturature recommends. I read the brochure as well and recall that they said something like "three sessions a day" was insufficient to achieve desired results.

So it can work, at least for some patients. The published studies say that many but unfortunately not all who use it get some improvement.

Gail