Micky,

I bid and won a Therabite(new)on Ebay last fall at $201...someone really wanted it and ran up the bids but I knew what retail was so half price was better than full and insurance would not cover it very well. As it turned out, hubby didn't need it but how were we to know??

So, I would keep trying, or even better, donate it and take the deduction (I see you are a Brit so don't know if this applies.)
I am hanging on to ours for a bit but if Bill continues to be OK bitewise, I will eventually donate it..maybe even here if someone needs it.

Deb

hey, i have no idea if anyone is still reading this thread as it seems to be pretty old. however i just learned in my dysphagia class (in school to be an slp) that an alternative to the costly therabyte would be stacks of tongue depressors. just hold those between your teeth. my dad uses it....he started with a stack of 11 depressors and is now up to 18. easy to count and measure progress....and you can get em cheap at ac moore.

Which doctor or dentist gives prescriptions for a therabite? I have 2 oral surgeons, 2 dentists, an ENT plus nutritionist, rad and chemo oncologists, family doc and wound specialist. Not sure which one can get me the therabite. I mentioned it to a few of these doctors over the past couple months and still no therabite. I must have been asking the wrong doctors.

My husband's ENT wrote his prescription. Because the company is not considered a "preferred provider" on his insurance it will only be covered 80% (but still that's pretty good, AND the company told me they would let our insurance know that they are the only distributors, and we had no choice but to go through them to try and get the full 100% so we appreciate that).

I got a prescription from my Oral Surgeon. My ENT didn't know about it and I didn't see the oral surgeon until 3 months after radiation had ended--didn't get it until 4 months after. I would hope now my ENT is being more proactive. I don't think my insurance covered it.

Nelie

By the way, the therabite helps me get my mouth open a little wider than I would be able to otherwise and it helps prevent jaw cramps when I remember to use it really faithfully (7 times a day) but it seems to kind of max out in effectiveness when my mouth gets to a certain level of opening (which still isn't very wide). When I got it (4 months out from rad), I was good about using it for about 4 months then when I went back to work full time was less good about using it as often as I should have. I was also going for physical therapy then and what she did seemed to help as much as the therabite. Then I had surgery on my esophagus, the perforation, the stent which hurt the whole time it was in, an even busier work schedule, and in all that I was not good about using the therabite either. I think during that time scar tissue built up and now even when I use the therabite, it is limited in it's effectiveness. But after the coronoidectomy I know I will have to be really good about using it in order to maintain whatever I gain in mouth opening from it.

Nelie