An accomplished musician, composer and conductor who is a Saint Vincent College music professor received a patent in November for an invention that has nothing to do with music.

Dr. Albert Tiberio, of New Stanton, invented a device to help people overcome facial paralysis because he wouldn't give up searching to alleviate his own condition. Doctors told him it was permanent and irreversible.

V.W.H. Campbell, Post-Gazette
Adele and Albert Tiberio with a copy of their 14-page patent data for a device that helps people with facial paralysis.
Click photo for larger image.

"I thought he's not accepting the reality of the situation," said his wife, Adele.

But Dr. Tiberio proved them wrong. He's proof that, sometimes, something can be done to help the most hopeless of situations.

The story began in 1972, when doctors found tumors on Dr. Tiberio's neck.

They operated, but in order to eradicate all traces of the growths, the surgeon had to cut into a nerve that served the entire right side of his face.

The tumors were benign, and the couple was relieved when no cancer was found. But what remained nearly devastated him.

Half of his face, from his forehead to his chin was paralyzed.

"I play trumpet," he said. That would be out of the question from then on, he found, because his lips barely moved.

He was a teacher, but with his face becoming distorted from the paralysis almost daily, he was having increasing difficulty eating and drinking, let alone talking in front of a classroom.

He had to do something.

Dr. Tiberio checked books out of the University of Pittsburgh's medical library and began reading. He did his research when everyone was asleep so he wouldn't bother anyone and no one would question him.

Mrs. Tiberio told him several times to stop torturing himself with the research, that she loved him with or without the paralysis.

But he was not persuaded.

"When I understand it, I will stop," he told those who questioned him, including his doctors. When he asked them about therapy, they told him none existed. But though they felt exercise wouldn't help, they told him it probably wouldn't hurt, either.

One day something clicked. He understood what was happening to his face and how he might fix it.

The idea for ORBEX was born.

He made a mechanical device that fit into his mouth and put resistance inside his cheeks. His working muscles on the unaffected side of his face created the resistance that exercised the paralyzed side. He exercised with it three times a week, sometimes until the muscles were so energized his face actually turned pink after a session.

Within a month, he was nearly back to normal.

He showed his doctors the change and all were stunned by the recovery. It's unheard of, they told him.

But the excitement soon faded. With his face restored, a career to continue and a family to raise, the device wasn't a priority anymore.

Seven years ago, though, the idea resurfaced. Someone wondered what became of Dr. Tiberio's invention.

He began the voluminous paperwork it takes to apply for, then obtain, a U.S. patent.

Eight weeks ago, it happened.

The mechanical facial exercise system Dr. Tiberio created to help himself became his property officially under law. He's looking to get it manufactured so people who need it will be able to buy it.

Dr. Tiberio is proud of the fact his is a "single-name patent," that will eventually help a lot of people who feel hopeless. He said many patents go to companies where several employees earn them.

Mrs. Tiberio is happy she was wrong when she doubted her husband.

"He's very smart," she said.

But she knew that all along.

First Published: January 25, 2007, 5:00 a.m.