In short, is it worth all the mucking around with it for a moderate/severe pwME (with slightly iffy teeth)?
In short -- no, at least it wasn't for me. This is the dehydrator I have:
http://www.cookstore.ca/excalibur-9-tray-food-dehydrator-black-3900b.html?
I bought mine while attempting to use a raw foods diet to deal with autoimmune illnesses added on top of my long-term ME. I used it a lot for the first few months, but for the past several years it's been sitting in our basement. So, definitely not worth the money I spent.
It was easy to clean and maintain. But if you are preparing a large quantity of food at a time (eg. using several trays -- in my case 9), you need a very large kitchen with a lot of counter space. Otherwise, it's a logistical nightmare loading the trays, and periodically re-positioning them as the food dries (since the trays in the middle opposite the fan dry faster than those at the top and bottom).
The food took a long time to dehydrate (even in a dry climate such as ours), and the larger the batch, the longer the drying time. Based on my experience, preparing food this way was a full-time job.
I did like many of the items I dehydrated -- fruit leathers, crackers, flatbreads and bars. Actually, I liked some of them so much they were eaten in no time, which led to more time-intensive food prep and dehydrating. The time and effort involved was not sustainable.
Also, if you're living in a small space and are sound sensitive, you may become irritated by the fan constantly running. My dehydrator wasn't particularly noisy, but we did install it away from the main living area of the house because of its size, and sound.
Most of my diet these days is raw, but using a much quicker and easier appliance. Every morning, I run a huge mound of up to 15 different vegetables, herbs and fruits through a slow juicer, and then add the pulp back. I include a couple of scoops of Collagen Peptides for protein. It's delicious, and would be a very good choice for your "slightly iffy teeth", as long as you are able to digest raw food (which dehydrated would be as well).
Good luck finding a food prep/eating plan that works for you,
@Wonko. After many trials, it seems I finally have.