The doctors that approved the trismus part of the pages in OCF's main site (and everything gets put past them) believe that tongue blades work, but the TheraBite device works on a curving pressure more like the natural movement of the mandible. This is a minor point in my book, but if your insurance company is going to pay for it why not use it. I have no complaints about my results using the plain old wooden blades from Sav-on.

The issue with doctor's names has nothing to do with any benefits or kudos they might get here. It has to do with liability, and OCF doesn't want to be on the receiving end of any. It easy enough to say my radiation doc or whatever and just leave names out of it all. As soon as someone trashes a doctor by name, or even in the positive leaves a phone number or something here, I hear about it. It is unnecessary and can be kept in the world of PM's and emails for those that wish to exchange that kind of info.

We all know that talking about survival statistics has limitations and it has been discussed here ad nauseum. Everyone is on the edges of the issue with statistical results. Numbers provide some guidelines in decision making both for us and for doctors. I don't want a treatment that has only shown a 1% increase in survival that has horrendous side affects associated with it. That knowledge might affect my decision-making. However the fact that stage 4 patients' fair significantly poorer statistically, is a number that isn't of any value to us. You can't use it for anything except to exacerbate your worry. So there is a place for numbers and there is a place where they don't help. We don't live in a world of absolutes. If it has benefit and the ability to help someone make a decision it's worth mentioning.